Edward II (1970) Sprinter - Cd1

• published: 19 Jan 2015
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Words from Ian McKellen When Toby Robertson, artistic director of Prospect Theatre, decided to revive our Richard II, he thought to accompany it with his own production of Edward II, a play he had previously directed with Derek Jacobi and other Cambridge undergraduates in 1957. I recall he asked Alan Bates, who was busy elsewhere. I may even have suggested myself to play both kings. In 1969 it was still considered an outrageous play, after all, perhaps, the first drama ever written with a homosexual hero. Edward's death with a red-hot poker thrust into his bowels had been discretely mimed behind a curtain when Harley Granville Barker played the eponymous role. We showed all, as it were, with the aid of a glowing torchlight and dim lighting. The auditions for Gaveston, Edward's lover, were conducted at Hampstead Theatre Club in London, where actors were asked to kiss me. I still recall the first softness of James Laurenson's lips, which was a bonus throughout the run. At the Edinburgh Festival, the late Councillor John Kidd took offence to this show of male affection, particularly as it took place on a stage erected within the Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland. The local watch committee sent along a couple of policeman who reported "no problem" and the fuss guaranteed full houses for the run and the subsequent tour in which Marlowe played in repertoire with Shakespeare. Dame Sybil Thorndyke attended a matinee and I asked her had she seen Granville Barker as Edward. "Ah no - that would be in the 1920s when I was touring Shakespeare across the USA with Ben Greet." She said that they had played just one afternoon performance in Hollywood, then a settlement so small, that they moved on to play elsewhere the same evening. The arc of Edward's progression is as simple and strong as Marlowe's language. He starts as a lovelorn youth. His passions are thwarted by his advisers, on whom he turns his anger and growing strength. By the climax of the play he is a full-blown tyrant. I emphasised all this by ageing through make-up and false beard.