Christopher Marlowe’s most controversial play, about the ill-fated reign of Edward II, has returned to a Royal Shakespeare Company stage for the first time in 35 years. Director Daniel Raggett tells What’s On why he jumped at the chance to breathe new life into the little-known 16th-century work

First performed in 1592, Edward II - or, to give it its original wordy title, The Troublesome Reign And Lamentable Death Of Edward The Second, King Of England, With The Tragical Fall Of Proud Mortimer - is one of the earliest English history plays. 

Written by Shakespeare contemporary Christopher Marlowe, and regarded as a major influence on the Bard’s Richard II, it tells the tale of King Edward II, who was widely regarded as one of the worst monarchs in history and violently removed from office by an establishment that refused to accept a gay king.

But why was he considered such a bad ruler, and how much of the public’s perception was influenced or prejudiced by his homosexuality? Both questions are at the heart of director Daniel Raggett’s new production - but he’s not planning on providing any explanations.

“It’s about complicating the question,” he says. “Maybe he’s not allowed the chance to govern properly because people decide that, because he’s gay, he’s not fit for that office. Or maybe he’s just a terrible king. And maybe it’s quite complicated to sit in the audience and go ‘What exactly am I upset about the most?’ I want that question to be alive, but not in a simple way. In a complicated way.”

But you won’t be answering it?

“No, because I think that’s where you tip over into being didactic, and I’d rather just open up the question and leave it for the audience to discuss.”

Thankfully, Daniel is more forthcoming about the rationale for revisiting the play, and why the lengthy time gap since it was last on a Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) stage means he can effectively do what he wants with it, since most people won’t remember the previous version.

“We’re doing a scene-for-scene, move-for-move remake of the Simon Russell Beale production from 1990,” he deadpans, before quickly confirming he’s pulling my leg. 

“I can be quite dry, and a lot of people don’t know when I’m joking! I’ll say things to the actors like ‘Right, we’re now going to do it all in Spanish accents,’ and then they start. I’m like ‘Come on, guys!’”

It might not be performed in Spanish brogue, but one of the ways Daniel is putting his stamp on the play - which is the longest Marlowe wrote - is by making radical cuts to the script, to bring it down to the length of a typical movie. 

Or at least that was the plan…

“I came in with all these ideas, and then the first week we started, these improvisations -  and all the stuff that came out of that - is now somehow incorporated in the show. It’s incredible. Plays aren’t meant to be read; they’re meant to be seen in 3D, in the flesh, and as soon as you see the actors, you think ‘Actually, that’s brilliant, I want more of that.’”

So it’s now four hours long?

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… and with three intervals! No, I’m hoping we’ll still be able to keep it as a short, sharp shock. It was quite radically cut and rearranged, but it still holds true to Marlowe’s text and original impulses.”

Putting on a lesser-known play at the home of the Bard is another element that excites the director, not least because it creates a different dynamic within the audience.

“Shakespeare wrote, what, 38 plays? And we do them again and again and again. We’ve all seen the plays, and everybody walks into the theatre with a pre-conception or decision about the show. That can be really exciting, but why not come and see an Elizabethan play by a contemporary of Shakespeare but totally different?

“It’s exciting to discover something new from that period, and also to discover how political and anti-establishment Marlowe was. He’s a lot of fun. He was sat there at the same time as Shakespeare, writing about a gay king. That’s the fun thing to uncover. And I think that can sit very well alongside going to see Hamlet for the 14th time - which I definitely will do.”

That last comment is sure to go down well with the RSC’s Co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans, who offered Daniel R the chance to direct for the company and has collaborated with him on the play. And Daniel E will also be playing the part of Edward, marking his first time on stage in a full acting role for 14 years. So what tempted him back - and, more importantly, will he get paid an actor’s wage on top of his normal one?

“I’ve never asked, but I should do!” laughs Daniel R. “He still has an actor’s agent! 

“I can’t remember where [the idea of him acting again] came from, but we were just joking around about parts that he’d quite like to play. We narrowed it down to two, and I really liked the idea of him playing a king when he’d just taken over as ‘king’, along with Tamara Harvey [the other co-artistic director], of the RSC. That just seemed to fit.

“So it came about as a happy accident. But then, when we started digging into the play and what it’s about and what makes good leadership - cos he’s a brilliant leader - and the idea of homosexuality in leadership, it just seemed really right.

“I think he’s enjoying being part of a company again, and being on the shop floor of the RSC.”
The director says the pair have also been enjoying looking at the 400-year-old play through a contemporary lens.

“Our starting point was that we supposedly live in some of the most liberal and open and permissive times, but what would happen if Charles passed away, William took the throne and turned round and said: ‘You know what, although I’ve been married to Katherine, there’s a guy called Colin, and he’s my real queen, or my real king.’ What would happen then?

“It’s not that the play is set in a modern world of mobile phones, but it’s just making sure that what we’re doing is plugging into these very pertinent questions about the world we live in now, as things move back towards the right, in inverted commas, and traditional values.

“Edward II’s not very well known, but it’s a great play. It’s got the propulsion of a thriller, and it’s quick and sharp and very violent. And then it’s got a very provocative thing at the centre, which is this love story between two men. There’s a lot of fun to play with.”