Sovereign review

Jul 19, 2023

King’s Manor, YorkLarge-scale community play has Henry VIII cancelling the city’s beloved Mystery Plays as a clever framing device in a striking adaptation

There’s more than one kind of mystery at play in this adaptation of CJ Sansom’s historical crime novel. The scene opens not on Matthew Shardlake, Sansom’s lawyer-detective protagonist, but on a centuries-old local theatrical tradition: the York Mystery Plays, performed on wagons by city guildswomen. Until, that is, Henry VIII arrives, putting an end to this much-loved ritual.

It’s an ingenious framing device from adapter Mike Kenny. Immediately, he connects this present-day outdoor community production to the city’s long history of theatre by and for the people. He also conjures up a chorus in the form of the thwarted guildswomen. They guide us through the rest of the drama, narrating offstage plot points, concealing key events to keep us in suspense and adding a collective female voice to what could otherwise be a male-dominated story.

Sovereign is an apt choice for the latest in York Theatre Royal’s long list of large-scale community plays. Sansom’s story is set mostly in York, as Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak (played as a believable duo by Fergus Rattigan and Sam Thorpe-Spinks, the only two professional actors) undertake work for Henry VIII’s Progress to the North. But soon a mysterious death alerts them to signs of conspiracy.

This is all staged against the striking backdrop of King’s Manor, one of the key locations in the book. Dawn Allsopp’s set design works sensitively with this outdoor site, transporting us back in time. Meanwhile, the epic sweep of Sansom’s doorstopper provides plenty of roles for the large cast. There are some particularly impressive turns from Livvy Potter as royal servant Tamasin Reedbourne, Joe Hopper as jailor Fulke Radwinter and Maurice Crichton as the imposing Sir William Maleverer.

The numbers involved also allow for a rare sense of scale, creating bustling street scenes and grand processions. It’s a lot of bodies to choreograph, something that co-directors Juliet Forster, Mingyu Lin and John R Wilkinson do skilfully. There are some moments where the narrative sags or the stage pictures lose focus. But overall, Sovereign makes for a fitting celebration of York’s people and its long theatrical history.

At King’s Manor, York, until 23 July