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| Matthew Backer with Briallen Clarke as Marion - 'Crawfie'. |
I’m old enough to have encountered the Crawfie stories, I think in an odd little magazine called Sunny Stories, probably in the early 1950s.
We never heard tell of the upset that publication of tales of the early years of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret caused and soon moved on to the excitements of Journey into Space and Jet Morgan.
However, it’s clear from Melanie Tait’s imaginative and sensitive play about the woman who took care of the early upbringing of both the Queen and her sister that here’s a story that’s been waiting to be told.
There are only three actors on a set by Michael Hankin that is full of visual surprises. Little houses (didn’t the princesses have a house that was sized only for children?), a miniature palace, a tiny train high in the air. Among these a tribe of characters move, most of whom are performed by a very busy Matthew Backer. He switches from occasional narrator or passing character to stuttering Bertie (who will become George VI) to a snobby (and camp) servant to Elizabeth (who will become the Queen Mother) to Crawfie’s eventual husband the feckless George and to an utterly charming and steady Elizabeth (who will become Elizabeth II), whatever her age.
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| Sharon Millerchip as the Queen Mother |
That leaves Sharon Millerchip as the Queen Mother and Briallen Clarke as Marion Crawford, both powerful characters in their own way. But the royal juggernaut represented by Millerchip’s hard drinking, charming but forceful queen is going to outweigh the sterling metal of the Queen’s Scottish nanny, given an incisive and perceptive performance by Clarke.
It’s a duel and power is on the side of the royals. And hindsight, given the scandals and royal tragedies of the ensuing decades, is bound to colour the audience’s perception of events.
It’s all beautifully done and well worth a visit to the Playhouse for what is a very brief season.
