Theatre has always been a mouthpiece for some of the most pressing international concerns and Revenants, set twenty-five years after the execution of the Romanov family and twenty-five years before the murder of Martin Luther King, looks at oppression, prejudice and revolution.
This new play by Olivier Award winner Nichola McAuliffe (Maurice’s Jubilee, A British Subject, National Hero) and directed by Patrick Sandford (who was Artistic Director at The Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, for over 25 years) explores the ghosts of our past and asks what has actually changed.
In July 1943, actor Ernest Thesiger, Queen Mary, widow of George V, and her chauffeur Walcott meet in an English birch wood to commemorate the death of the Russian Royal Family. They are defined and confined by age, race, gender, sexuality and class during a war to fight fascism.
Into their midst comes Waverley Monk, a young, black G.I. whose experience of segregation and torture has him ready to wreak revenge on a whites-only barracks. As the group battle with notions of persecution and bravery, it’s clear that violent revolutions must have unforeseen consequences.
As these characters draw together they see the revenants of the past. Haunted by what they’ve done and worse, much worse, what they didn’t do, the group find common ground in betrayal. But who is the betrayer? In a world before feminism, when racism and homophobia were the norm, is revenge the answer? How does a young black man face his revenants and change the future? By civil disobedience, or mass murder?
Pleasance director Anthony Alderson comments, “Revenants is the Pleasance’s fourth collaboration with Nichola McAuliffe, and we’re delighted to be producing this extraordinary play. It weaves together issues and challenges of the past 100 years and asks what we have learnt. Revenants is a play of contemporary relevance – themes of oppression, injustice and revolution are more timely than ever, and we look forward to the exciting conversations the show will spark at this year’s Fringe.”
The cast includes the legendary Peter Straker (Hair, Phantom of The Opera), Kevin Moore (Father Ted, Crocodiles in Cream) and writer Nichola McAuliffe (Great Expectations, The Lady in the Van, Kiss Me Kate, Surgical Spirit (ITV)).
Revenants is at Pleasance Dome (King Dome).
