Review: Boudikka, the Warrior Queen by Philip Kreyche
by Brian Paul Scipione
The story of Boudikka, a Celtic Queen who leads an uprising against the colonial Roman Empire, might be summed up by a Hollywood exec like so: “It’s like Braveheart but with a woman!”
Roman historian Tacitus preserved the history of Boudikka, commonly spelled Boudicca, and Cassius Dio later expanded on it. Boudikka was accounted to be a fair and wise ruler who essentially followed her deceased husband's philosophy that it was best to play ball with the Roman conquerors.
In this telling the Romans suddenly break the treaty and take over the lands of Boudikka’s tribes. She protests. In retaliation she is flogged and her daughters are raped. She flees to a neighboring tribe who take her in despite their previous enmity. Boudikka rallies all native Britons and assembles a vast rebel army. They charge the surprised Romans and force them back almost to the southernmost shores of the island. Boudikka’s bloodlust causes her to make some unwise decisions. . . .
I must admit that I am always given pause when I see that someone has taken on the writing, directing, and producing of an entire show. Philip Kreyche also chose to act and to add costuming to his responsibilities for this production. He certainly has a definitive vision for this piece. He writes in the program, “Boudikka was well-known because her rebellion nearly drove the Roman emperor, Nero, to give up on Britain and pull all his forces out: Britain nearly became Rome’s Vietnam, and it was because of Boudikka.”
This play has clear-cut heroes, victims, and villains but, unfortunately, not much depth, giving it an air of pantomime. It rolls through scene after scene of actors standing still and telling the story of what’s happening without actually showing any of the story. The characters that are boastful and un-wise at the beginning are the same at the end. One of Boudikka’s daughters is timid, the other angry: as the play moves along they become more timid and angrier, respectively, but not much else. The Queen takes the stage and explains that they have been betrayed, after which a scene repeats this betrayal in a brief, albeit brutal fashion.
One of the most important aspects of a theatrical production is the suspension of disbelief. The audience, who patently know that they are watching a play, are asked to suspend that very notion and embrace the convention that what is happening before them is happening before them. The company has the responsibility of crafting that illusion. One example of a failure to achieve the illusion: the flogging scene is presented in a fully lit stage about three feet from the audience. It is just too easy to tell that what’s happening is not happening.
Kreyche's technique of announcing the play’s action before it happens creates an awkward rhythm that further undermines the illusion. For example, Arios admits to the audience that he has considered betraying Boudikka but is not going to do it: his pre-emptive capitulation, confided to us, destroys any possibility of tension that he may do it.
The fight scenes at the end are suspenseful, but unfortunately because they are flailing, spastic affairs that make you worry for the safety of the actors. Half of the combat is done in slow motion and the other half is frantic, with the performers not remembering to maintain eye contact with the opponent. Of course, since we've already been told that the Celts are going to lose, the fight scenes are a touch moot.
Madeline Tuckfield and Caitlin Bryson merit special mention for bringing life and vitality to their roles as Boudikka’s daughters. They display lots of emotion and communicate unsaid dialogue with their eyes and subtle body language. In a particularly touching scene that is very much an homage to Ophelia’s death scene in Hamlet, Taska (Bryson), broken under the pressure of the constant bloodshed and the demands upon her to kill, has taken refuge by a quiet meandering brook. She seeks council and consolation from the playful fish. Kamorra (Tuckfield) appears and demands angrily that she take up her spear and return to the march. In a moving moment, her love for her sister overcomes her battle-frenzy and she falls to Taska’s side. It's an ephemeral instant of humanity in Boudikaa's world of sound and fury.
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Boudikka, the Warrior Queen
by Philip Kreyche AND Ryan Manning
Philip Kreyche
