French spies, educated women and badly filed paperwork make for chaotic comedy in this new show set in 1066. Only nine months since King Harold had an arrow through his eye, and the French are changing laws and imposing their language and customs on their newly conquered country. Clergymen Theodore (George MacGowan) and Nicholas (Xavier Atkins) have enough problems keeping the villagers in line, and when their French superior arrives and helps himself to a farm at the same time as a woman arrives from Yorkshire claiming the farm is hers, Theodore has his work cut out keeping everyone distracted while he tries to fix the mess.
Rabble-rouser, Joan (Julie Joubert), is asked to write a morality play and Yorkshire woman Asa (Lily Blunsom) is given the lead part to keep both of them busy. Local farmer and aspiring actor, Stephen (Charlie James-Howard) provides the foil for Joan’s intelligence, his charming stupidity meaning that she has to explain all of her plans to him (thereby informing the audience), and she has a lot of plans – organise the villagers for the latest protest, change church services from Latin to English so everyone can understand them, and find out what’s in the golden book the clergymen keep reading.
There is a lot going on in this one-hour play, which was originally billed as 75 minutes. Suppression of the masses, a new administration making sweeping changes, immigration, feminism, authority figures restricting the flow of information – it’s easy to see the parallels with modern society, but it felt like writer and director Esalan Gates had too much to say to fit into a one-act show, and the play suffered because of it.
Joubert had a frantic energy that suited the character but at times she spoke so quickly it was difficult to understand her. There were scenes where the actors were so focussed on keeping up the pace that the sense of the play was sacrificed to the comedy. The male characters at times seemed to be in different plays from everyone else. Nicholas had a strong motivation, although it wasn’t entirely clear what it was or how it related to anything. Theodore had his twisty tale of trying to sort out who owned the farm but most of the characters either didn’t know about it, or weren’t involved, so we didn’t really get to see the full effect of his machinations. The ending was a jumbled resolution that felt forced and unsatisfying, with one character revealing new information that ironed everything out. If the show had been given more time, the threads may have been woven together more tightly.
There was some good comedic acting, particularly from Atkins and MacGowan who were clearly both relishing their parts, and a well-coreographed farcical fight scene was one of the highlights of the show. Gates’ direction made good use of the space and Tom McVeigh’s simple church altar set, even getting the audience to stand up at the start because we were in church. But enjoyable as the show was, I was left with the feeling that it was trying to make so many points, that it didn’t succeed in making any.
The show runs until the 10th of October at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre in Kentish Town. Tickets are available here: https://www.thelionandunicorntheatre.com/whats-on
Reviewer: Charlotte Mansfield
Reviewed: 8th October 2026
North West End UK Rating:
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