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"His Majesty," by Harley Granville-Barker (1877-1946), is now on stage at the Shaw Festival's Court House Theatre. A North American premiere, the play was completed in 1928 and remained unproduced until it ran for one week at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1992.
For some years, the Shaw Festival has been rediscovering Granville-Barker's plays, many of which have not been seen for some time or have been all but forgotten. "His Majesty" is the seventh Granville-Barker play to be produced at the Shaw. Neil Munro has directed all of them. They include "The Voysey Inheritance" (1988), "The Marrying of Ann Leette" (1993), "Rococo" (1994), "Waste" (1995), "The Secret Life" (1997) and "The Madras House" (1999).
Granville-Barker, a contemporary of George Bernard Shaw, is known as a playwright, but he was also a director, producer and general arts advocate. Through theater clubs, Shaw met and befriended Granville-Barker, who later produced many of Shaw's plays.
"His Majesty" takes place after the First World War. Granville-Barker places his fictitious country, Carpathia, in the center of what was happening in Europe at the time. As Neil Munro says in his director's notes, "Enormously powerful ideas were sweeping across the world: Republicanism, communism and, waiting patiently in the wings, fascism."
King Henry and Queen Rosamund of Carpathia are in exile, wondering about the future of their country and their own personal futures.
David Schurmann beautifully enacts the lead role of the King. As the King, he is likable and believable. Here is a king who wants to avoid bloodshed at any cost. He's an affable man who probably wasn't cut out to be a king and seems, at times, more interested in raising poultry. His subjects love him, but he would be happy as a farmer raising chickens.
His wife Rosamund is cut from another cloth. She's a queen right down to her fingertips, desiring no other lifestyle. It's important to her how someone bows before her. The trappings of queenship are important. Mary Haney, an excellent actress and Shaw regular who is in her 18th season with the Shaw, plays the Queen. She has played, among many other roles, the title role in Shaw's "Saint Joan."
"His Majesty" abounds with some of the Shaw's best actors and actresses. Veteran actor Michael Ball plays a rather laid-back Madrassy. We are used to seeing him in larger-than-life roles that overwhelm all around him. George Dawson plays a wily Mr. Bruckner. Ben Carlson is good as Stephen Czernyak, as is Sharry Flett as Countess Czernyak. There is some excellent acting here.
It's as if some of the best of Shaw has been thrown into the mix, but they can't completely carry the play, which is slow going, especially the first two acts. However, there are some twists and turns in the last two acts that do give some motion and a better pace. "His Majesty" is billed as a political thriller, but the emphasis should be on political rather than thriller. There's much discussion, but little action.
"His Majesty" remains on stage at the Court House Theatre at Niagara-on-the-Lake through Sept. 21.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 30 2002 |