This morning as I mulled over
thoughts on the play I’d just seen, ‘The Ruling Classes’, with
James McAvoy (14th Earl of Gurney) at the Trafalgar Studios, there’s a knock at the door. I reluctantly
opened the door to find two women who bore a disturbingly close resemblance to Mrs
Peggot-Jones (Paul Leonard) and Mrs Treadwell (Forbes Masson) doing their drag
act yesterday. My eyes took in every
pore on the nearest woman's bulbous nose together with the broken veins in the
whites of her eyes, before I was asked, “do you know that something amazing is happening all over the
world?” I nearly got drawn in at this point as I was itching to quip “you mean
the solar eclipse” but restrained myself... “Would you like an invitation to join the
special event?”, she asked thrusting a pastel coloured leaflet towards me. I managed an empathetic “no thank you” and
shut the door!
Forbes Mason (Mrs Treadwell) & James McAvoy (JC) |
These two women just happened to be calling
door to door along my street but they inadvertently set my mind working on
correlations between the play and society today, which of course is the whole
point! Jack has escaped from the realities of his
love-starved childhood by creating a safe place for his mind to exist. His revelation was at a ‘urinal in Acton’ but
never mind the banality of the setting, he had a revelation that he was God. These women are peddling their version of their
safe place and off they shuffled to the next
unsuspecting victim, safe in the belief that they are doing God's work,
oblivious to the truly awe-inspiring phenomenon that was going on above their
heads!
Their resemblance to the drag queens in the
play was quite disturbing. The free
associations kept coming as I thought of the three disgraced judges just sacked for viewing naughty images on their judicial desktops... What were they doing but trying to escape
reality and hang the consequences (no pun intended), just like dear pater, 13th Earl of
Gurney (also Paul Leonard), inadvertently asphyxiating himself in the process of auto-erotic entertainment at the
end of a silk noose.
Serena Evans (Lady Claire Gurney), J Mac (JC) & Kathryn Drysdale (Grace Shelley) |
James McAvoy (Jack) |
The ethos of the play is that the
establishment and all its structures and principles are
thoroughly rotten at the core and the skill of the play and its players is that
we are drawn into the, inexorable, inevitable climax.
I dearly loved Jamie Lloyd's production of
Peter Barnes' 1968 play.
The cast were excellent especially James McAvoy with his startling ability to emote and ride a uni cycle all at the same time! Whilst the play/production unashamedly used every
theatrical trick in the book to move, shock and entertain its audience with JC even
speaking directly to the audience at one point.
These devices only added to the freshness of the experience: many things have changed but the Establishment remains.
Given the current political climate where
social mobility has gone into the doldrums, this production couldn’t be more
relevant. It reminds jaded idealists
that there is a funny side to even the blackest environment and there will
never be a total eclipse of the sun.