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Camden Fringe
A bright and thoroughly engaging modern telling of the real historical figure, brought to life by a great cast with a mix of good humour and playfulness.Summary
Rating
Excellent
Dictated by the real medieval figure herself, The Book of Margery Kempe told her life story, from vivid visions of Jesus, to embarking on a pilgrimage and meeting opposition from those who did not approve of her actions. It’s not a tale I was familiar with, which is no barrier at all to understanding or enjoying the show. Writer/director Nadia Lines and producer Liv Bouton have taken a very modern approach to the language and behaviour used to bring this historic figure to life.
Amenie Groves shines as Margery; she is engaging and charming as she directly addresses the audience and talks us through her life and travels, complete with modern expressions like thumbs up and delighted cries of “yay”. Groves conveys the joy of conversing with her friendly and supportive vision of Jesus (Akshit Ahuja) and switching to horror and despair as her vision changes to show the suffering he later experienced. The sound design by Stan Hunt effectively heightens this contrast, stitching from ethereal to haunting.
As the book is all told from Margery’s perspective, the production cleverly exaggerates the personalities of the other characters to best match the description she gives of them, though this never crosses the line into being hammy. Margery is annoyed by her gormless husband John (Artemis Loynes) and so he plays this up in his dependence upon her. When Margery is accused of heresy and brought before a council of church elders, they are wearing comically huge wigs to emphasis their sense of status and pomposity. Theo Parkin is ahighlight as Bishop Graham, the superbly hissable villain of the piece who cannot stand the notion of Margery being so close to God. Parkin strides around the stage, sneering with overly received pronunciation and throwing every ounce of disgust he can muster into the word “woman”, before exiting with a dramatic swishing his cloak. He receives a lot of laughs from the audience and even the cast cannot always keep a straight face. Irisa Kwok brings compassion in her role as Mary, mother of Jesus, while the multitude of other side characters Margery meets on her journey, sailors, tavern patrons, tourists and excitable bridesmaids, are played by Eve Robson and Abi Green.
There is a playfulness to the whole thing; a bed doubles as both a horse drawn carriage and a boat as the cast sway about to represent movement, and the music is halted as Margery is interrupted mid-speech. The costume design by Olivia Little supports the blend of historic and modern. There are traditional medieval cassocks for the clergy and ornate white dress for Margery, teamed with modern hats and sunglasses for fellow tourists on the pilgrimage.
This is a brilliantly enacted and entertaining story. Those who are familiar with the source material can enjoy this fresh and fun take, or those who have not come across Margery before may well be inspired to learn more about her.
Presented by: The Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club
Written and directed by: Nadia Lines
Produced by: Liv Bouton
Assistant Director: Frederick Upton
Sound Design by: Stan Hunt
Technician: Liv Bouton
Stage Manager: Olivia Little
Costume Design by: Olivia Little
The Book of Margery Kempe plays at Old Red Lion Theatre until 9 August. Further information and bookings can be found here.
