Treason 🧨

#PRInvite #Gifted | The World Premiere of Treason the Musical opened in Edinburgh last week.

Star rating: ★★

November 5th marks the day of the Gunpowder plot from British history. We all know the phrase: ‘remember, remember’ - but it only occurred to me that after seeing Treason the Musical, I never really knew what it was I was being told to remember. Of course, the name Guy Fawkes springs to mind, and his failed assassination attempt of the Houses of Parliament. Yet, the deep complexity of this history has never been at the forefront of my education, and I must admit, my desires to explore either.

Treason is a new musical created by Ricky Allan and has had some great success building momentum in recent years. I have enjoyed watching this new British musical spark from afar, and was delighted to be given the opportunity to review its World Premiere performance at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre.

As expected, the show begins with Guy Fawkes (played by Gabriel Akamo), who takes on a narrator type role throughout. He is always there in the foreboding: watching the events relating to the Gunpowder Plot unravel, with 7 ensemble members taking on the role of ‘The Eyes’ (they are not unlike Hamilton in this respect). His character is constructed with poetic prose and interjections of rap within a song - which is interesting but non-conforming with the rest of the production. Despite Guy Fawkes being the name which instantly springs to mind when you think of this significant date - this role feels like an afterthought, only injected to include his name somehow. Fawkes is rarely truly involved in scenes and is missing from the action of setting up the infamous plot from initial talks to assembling the weaponry. This is an odd choice for this show, where I’d have thought he would be deeply ingrained in the piece. This just means that when the show reaches its conclusion as Guy Fawkes is killed, the audience are left with a strange connection with a character who has hidden in the dark for most of the running time. Fawkes’ final message of the show was confusing, and I overheard audience members in the streets noting that they were unsure if we were meant to support the plotters or not.

The most authentic character was undoubtedly Martha, who was played by Nicole Raquel Dennis. Dennis’ vocal performance was outstanding, and I really enjoyed Martha stepping up as the main character of the musical. I also appreciated the feminist lens, where the story questioned Martha’s involvement in the plot, and the impact the men’s actions had on the women who were left behind. In fact, I would have liked more of this. The show seemed to ignore the complexity of Martha’s position in the plot: the wife of Thomas Percy (played by Sam Ferriday) and the sister of Jack Wright (played by Kyle Cox) - two of the plotters. I’d only made this link by reading the programme - which alluded to lots of things that were left uncovered in the musical. It is a bit of a flaw when the programme synopsis is more thrilling and informative than the show itself. Truthfully, a lot of contextual points were missing which used to exist before but have since obviously been removed. However, I will note that it was refreshing learning about the Gunpowder Plot through other eyes than just Guy Fawkes.

The musical features a beautiful original score with a mix of folk and pop songs - with some arrangements which sound biblical, effectively matching the strong link to religion throughout. ‘Burn’, ‘The Inevitable’ and ‘Caught in the Crossfire’ stand out as songs which were particularly appealing. I recognised these songs from streaming them previously, and observed that there were no titles of musical numbers printed in the programmes. I suspect that the majority of songs included in the fully-staged production are entirely new and subject to change significantly after its World Premiere.

At times, the direction (Hannah Chissick) and choreography by (Taylor Walker) seem at odds with the score, and I felt a slight uneasiness feeling like I was witnessing two different types of shows happening at once. At times we even were: with a strange play-within-a-play crowbarred into the opening of Act 2. The score needed to lean completely into its rocky-folk roots to elevate the punchy choreography. The band, however, sounded fantastic throughout and should have been utilised more within scenes to knit the show together more seamlessly. The book was written by Charli Eglinton with Kieran Lynn and felt like an attempt to please an English teacher at times. Some of the powerful dialogue became jarring, and scenes appeared scared of underscoring... it is a musical, after all! All cast members sang beautifully, notably Emilie Louise Israel as Anne Vaux. I was just sorry that some of the lyrics were predictable at times with easy rhymes which limited the impact of each song in turn.

Treason featured a simplistic costume and set design by Philip Witcomb which was effective in the main, and not dissimilar from the silhouette of the Houses of Parliament which was aesthetically clever. This was complemented by lighting designer Jason Taylor who explored with different effects, such as a powerful finish to Act 1.

It is difficult not to compare this production to its predecessors - especially Hamilton - which it has clearly taken inspiration from. It was also really challenging trying to forget the concept album ‘Lighting the Fuse: Sparks from Treason In Concert’ when watching. I can’t help but feel that it was a huge mistake to rewrite most of these songs which would have elevated the overall pacing of the show, and are just far better if I am honest. In absence of these, the new score is lifeless and unmemorable - and does not build much needed tension as the gunpowder plot progresses. I was glad to see an improvement on the momentum in Act 2, however by this time, it was a little too late. To anyone who has seen the fully-staged show, but not yet heard the concept album - I would strongly encourage you to listen to it.

Treason has the potential to make sparks fly on stages around the UK as it embarks on its tour. I hope that the production can continue to be reworked as this could be something special. But just now, it is disappointing to see a hyped musical take a step back in its quality following concert performances last year. The idea behind this show is welcomed and there could be a place for it. However, it is a saturated market for historical retellings as musicals and so creators must get it right. You cannot have a spark without a flame - and Treason needs some restructuring to get it back on track.

Credits

Instagram links: @theatregramuk, @captheatres, @treasonmusical

Review by Joel Simpson cc: theatregram@gmail.com