Express & Star

The Hypocrite, RSC, Stratford - review

For anyone who remembers the English Civil War period as dull - what with those killjoy Puritans and po-faced Parliamentarians - a trip to Stratford for the RSC's laugh-a-minute latest offering is strongly recommended.

Published

The Hypocrite, a joint production with Hull Truck Theatre, picks up on a story, little known except in Hull, that the city started the Civil War.

A 14-month period in 1642-3 is condensed by writer Richard Bean into three action-packed days as Sir John Hotham, the local MP and Governor of Hull, frets over which side to support.

His dilemma is not so much ethical as pragmatic, particularly as he's accepted £1,000 from both Charles I and Parliament for his backing, money he badly needs for his daughter's dowry.

But he is forced to show his hand when the king visits Hull to take possession of England's second biggest arsenal (true, apparently), a stockpile that could decide the outcome of the war.

The Parliamentarians ordered him to bar the monarch entry and, as history shows, he did.

It all comes to a sticky end for Hotham, as we discover at the start, in a clever little prologue of his execution in which his severed head comes back to life and sets the scene.

But the historical vein of truth running through this tale is only half the story. There are sub-plots a-plenty involving child ghosts, a couple of princes dressed as women, Hotham's boy-mad daughter's pursuit of a suitor and his wife's plan to escape the marital mayhem.

This production has been borne out of Hull's selection as the 2017 UK City of Culture, and there are lots of local gags. It doesn't take long to work out that Bridlington is the posh end of Hull but the jokes translate well.

There are shades of Blackadder, Monty Python and Fawlty Towers, and that can't be a bad thing.

At the heart of the play's success is Mark Addy's bravura performance as Sir John, a role that is part-acting, part stand-up comedy, and very far removed from his role as bashful, podgy Dave in the 1997 film The Full Monty.

Caroline Quentin is commanding as his long-suffering wife, more than capable of returning the outrageous insults he hurls at her, and then some. Birmingham-trained Sarah Middleton is delightfully dippy as their daughter, Frances. Jordan Metcalfe gives a virtuoso performance as a gloriously camp Duke of York.

Listen out for some passionate renditions about democracy and fair play, interspersed with witty ditties from the lusty Levellers who tell us 'God loves those who go round thieving because God loves those who help themselves.'

Runs until April 29

By Marion Brennan

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