JADAR

★★★☆☆

There have been countless works about our late Queen, dealing in everything from her annus horribilis to her sneaking out and having a night on the town. The latest addition to far too many works is By Royal Appointment, a behind-the-scenes look at the Queen’s relationship with her dresser, designer and milliner.

A semi-fictional story, the play opens with the late queen’s Dresser, Gigi Gaunt (based on Angela Kelly, CVO – the real Queen’s Personal Assistant and Senior Dresser), conversing with a curator (Grainne Dromgoole), who hopes to create a VR experience about the Queen’s fashion (immediately informing us that this play is not going to take itself too seriously).

We are then sent back in time to when the Wigan-born Gigi first met the Queen. Along the way, we meet the Designer (Hames Wilby) and another newbie, the Milliner (Jeremy Drakes on press night, as James Dreyfus was off), both of whom are gay men. The latter asks the former what it’s like working at Buckingham Palace as a gay man. “The Palace is full of Queens,” asks the former. Whilst there have been allegations about racism in the Palace, they say it’s long been more than tolerant to gay people; writer Daisy Goodwin has clearly done her research.

The heartwarming play has been written with love and affection, which oozes through the script. It is certainly a sympathetic portrayal of the Queen, and the monarchy more broadly – as is to be expected, but the lack of criticism feels almost sycophantic. Other portrayals of the Queen, in everything from The Crown to Handbagged, though positive and flattering, were nuanced, especially insofar as her treatment of Diana. But this play goes so far as to portray the Queen as being sympathetic towards Diana, with her only criticism of her being towards her hats. It is Gigi, instead, who criticises Diana as an attention-seeker (which, in all fairness, might be bold in such a play, as Diana is universally loved). There’s also the odd jibe at Meghan Markle, which feels like unnecessary punching-down comedy, though Goodwin is smart never to be too mean; just witty enough to humour the sycophantic Royalists in the audience.

What the play does wonderfully is explore how the Queen, who was famous for her discretion, expressed herself through her wardrobe. Though herself uninterested in fashion, her look was meticulously managed by a trio of clashing characters. 

The play covers decades of the Queen’s relationship with her dresser, with most scenes taking place in a different decade. The play is essentially a series of vignettes, with many scenes covering important times of the Queen’s life – at least where fashion was concerned.

To signify a scene change, a relevant song plays as Dromgoole states the year and tells the audience some facts from said year. It’s a clever narrative device to help transport the audience to the given year and inform the audience what was happening at that time; some of the information is contextual and relevant, some of it helps the audience remember what they were up to then, some of it is nostalgia, and some if it is just good fun.

It does, however, become a bit repetitive, though Goodwin cleverly makes the references more entertaining as the play goes on, with a highlight being a reference to a lettuce outlasting Liz Truss as Prime minister. The flash-forward in the final scene (“2026 – Oasis break up”) is especially hilarious. Dromgoole could not disguise the smile on her face as the audience burst out laughing.

As Dromgoole speaks, there are stunning projections (by Nina Dunn for Pixellux) on the screen, each time ending with the Queen in a relevant outfit.

The writing, though funny and witty, is occasionally a little clunky, but the script is performed so well that it does not really matter. National treasure Anne Reid, who recently turned 90, though not the most convincing Queen Elizabeth, plays the part with so much affection and consideration. When she walks off stage for the last time, signifying her death, it hits hard because we know that that will be Reid herself soon. Reid is similar in age to Elizabeth when she died though she looks fantastic for her age. Still, perhaps it would have made more sense to cast somebody a little younger, given the many decades that the play covers. That said, it was a real privilege to see the Anne Reid onstage – they cast a queen as the Queen!

The Dresser is played by the quick-witted Caroline Quentin, who brings warmth and vulnerability to an ostensibly icy Northerner. Her chemistry with the other characters is electric and incredibly believable.

Dominic Dromgoole makes great use of the space with his direction. The design, by Jonathan Fenson, though relatively low budget, appears regal and luscious; Fenson has made the most of the little money he got. Oliver Fenwick’s lighting is warm and intimate, conveying the privacy of the text we are dealing with; we are rendered flies on the wall, hidden away in the dark.

By Royal Appointment does not reinvent the wheel with its sympathetic portrayal of a problematic institution but it is a light-hearted, heart-warming, poignant play that excellently explores a lesser-known aspect of the late Queen’s life whilst championing the power of fashion.

By Royal Appointment runs at The Lowry (Lyric Theatre) until August 9 – the last stop of its UK tour.

Photo: Nobby Clark