'I, Elizabeth' Review

"Using only Elizabeth's words (adapted from her letters, speeches and other writings), Rebecca Vaughan (Austen's Woman, Female Gothic), continues her successful collaboration with director Guy Masterson (Oliver Award Winning Morecambe), exploring the queen's struggle to reconcile the desires of womanhood with the duties of sovereignty." 
- A Dyad Production

As a fifteen year old who isn't used to any language but modern English, I found that incredibly hard to understand, especially with it being 1hr15 long, it felt it dragged a bit. But with the way this whole performance was set up, despite not being able to understand a lot of it you could really get a feel for what was going on. Using Clamps (see below *) I had some thoughts.

• The costume in this play was a simple posh Elizabethan dress and a red head wig. I found this gave it a historical vibe.
• The lighting was pretty standard but changed between a spotlight and full stage lighting, apart from an occasional, what seemed to be electrical storm, where the lights flickered and there was a sound of power malfunctions, these happened unexpectedly and made the play that little bit more dramatic.
• For the actors, there was only one, Rebecca Vaughan, it was a monologue.
• The make-up again gave it a very historical vibe. She had her whole face covered in white powder and slightly pink lips, also as I said she had a red wig and some very pretty earrings on.
• There were very few props. She had a letter with a red wax seal that she kept waving about (in a very majestic way of course), there was a goblet with who knows what in it, a handkerchief which she wiped her eyes on and very lovely wooden table and chair (she kept flopping on to the chair)
• As for the scenery, there was some red wallpaper (?) hanging at the back and a checkered floor. Nothing overly fancy.

These six things made the play a wonder to watch even though I understood a whole of about ten words. I would just like to say, it's not that I couldn't hear her it simply was that I can't understand Elizabethan.
Over all really enjoyed and I seriously would go and see it again!
x

*I'm going to use a thing that I learnt about in Media called 'Mise-en-scène'. In that there is costume, lighting, actors, make-up, props and scenery. Or CLAMPS