Remember, Remember! Review: Less Horrible Histories, More Real Housewives of Westminster
★★★★★
The Gunpowder Plot, told by a bunch of huns and demon twinks after a few too many Proseccos, is exactly what Remember, Remember! feels like. It is also absolute perfection. Taking one of Britain's most endlessly retold historical events and deciding that accuracy is considerably less important than camp, chaos and a really good punchline, WIT? Theatre Company delivers a gloriously unhinged musical retelling of the Gunpowder Plot.
Rather than placing Guy Fawkes at the centre, Remember, Remember! turns its attention towards Robert Catesby, the actual driving force behind the conspiracy, and his increasingly disastrous attempts to overthrow King James I. Unfortunately for Catesby, everyone is far more interested in Fawkes, and the show has enormous fun with our cultural obsession with the man who somehow stole the entire plot for himself. What follows is less Horrible Histories and more Real Housewives of Westminster.
Catesby is tasked with F.U.C.K.ing the King, or “Furtively, Underhandedly Connect with the King”, leading to an unexpectedly romantic entanglement with James I and the frankly unforgettable sight of a gouty royal foot being sexily drained.
It is disgusting. It is magnificent.
Remember, Remember! is wonderfully hun-derful. The stage is adorned with portraits of familiar huns in Stuart garb, immediately establishing exactly how seriously the production intends to take the historical record. The references then arrive relentlessly, mixing genuine history with gloriously stupid contemporary nonsense. There is just enough truth underneath the wigs, treason and weaponised camp to give the parody something to tear apart.
Kluane Saunders, Ross Tomlinson, Lucy Buncombe and Tom O'Kelly throw themselves into the material with complete abandon, and half the joy comes from watching four performers who look like they are having the absolute best time on stage. Every character is played with delicious overcamp and an almost telenovela level of drama. King James I was a particular favourite, his infectious demon twink energy somehow simultaneously seductive, deeply creepy and completely irresistible, while Anne of Denmark is an equally magnificent creation. The accent work veers wonderfully between moments of startling precision and choices so incredibly wrong that they somehow become completely right. Betrayals are seismic, minor inconveniences become national emergencies and nobody simply enters a scene when they could dramatically announce their arrival. Their enjoyment is infectious, and the chemistry between the four makes the chaos feel effortless.
The original songs are just as committed. Everything is performed with the conviction of a West End eleven o'clock number, regardless of how idiotic the lyrics become, and that absolute refusal to wink apologetically at the material makes it all the funnier.
Jokes, innuendo, visual gags and hun references come thick and fast, but the apparent chaos is far more controlled than it first appears. The company knows when to escalate a joke, when to call back to it and, crucially, when to move on. There is a contagious joy to the whole thing, with absolutely no embarrassment about just how ridiculous it becomes.
Remember, Remember! is Fringe comedy at its very best: inventive, ridiculous, brilliantly performed and completely committed to its own deranged world. Five stars feels almost insufficient for something this stupid.
Remember, remember the fifth of November. But more importantly, remember the huns.
Queen Dome at Pleasance Dome
Until 30th August (except 17th and 24th)
1715-1815
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