Review: The Plot (Summerhall, Edinburgh)

Review by Seth Wilby

⭐⭐⭐

Remember, remember, the 5th of November. That’s how the famous rhyme goes. But how much do we actually know about that infamous plot, 400 years on? That’s the question explored in the new play by company theatregoose, who mark their fourth consecutive year at the Edinburgh Fringe with The Plot, a complex narrative exploration into the history and literature of England in 1605. But, after so many successful runs at the Fringe, would The Plot manage to blow me away?

As the show begins, we meet sibling plotters, Tom and Robin, passing the time in a supposed purgatory by, quite literally, playing with fire. And when, plagued with existentialism, they decided to reenact the plot that placed them there, we are taken on a mesmerising whirlwind adventure through the plot itself, linking it into tales of power, politics and Shakespeare through complex narrative threads and bewitching staging. 

Written and directed by Emma Howlett, the concept is a fascinating one for a play. Howlett elegantly weaves the plot lines together, offering a fascinating new approach to two stories we’ve heard before (a combination of Macbeth and the Gunpowder Plot is destined to make intriguing theatre) in a way that is necessarily theatrical. By posing this as a performance in two ways (both the one we are watching and the one told by the brothers), we are reminded that everything we are seeing is fake. The trial we see glimpses of is a performance, the production of Macbeth we see from backstage is a performance, the plot itself is a performance. Yet, despite this subtle symbolism, it feels like it has nothing to say beyond the history. There is no clear messaging, and, instead, the play is overcrammed with too much plot (in both senses) to set any actual drama alight.

Howlett clearly writes with great intellect, with an almost Stoppardian grasp of language, although the confusion between period and modern prose can create some issues. Her structural devices are strong (the cyclicism is well-utilised, for example), and there’s a regularly ingenious incorporation of Macbeth quotes as heavy-handed easter eggs symbolising the parallels between fact and fiction. However, the first scene is too slow-paced to draw you in, and the rest feels confusing thereafter in a script that could do with the 70-minute runtime tightened into an hour. 

The direction (also by Howlett) has some nicely creative moments, from the simple use of two buckets of water to the evocative movement that fascinates throughout. Against Ellie Wintour’s fantastically atmospheric set (a black-and-white plane, with chains hanging above a dark mound), the direction captivates, and Ed Saunders’ lighting design offers moments of visual greatness, yet the lack of any flashes of colour in the design mimics the rather monotonic narrative.

Performers Sophie Kean and Abby McCann shine, clearly feeling very comfortable in this style of production, with a magnetic presence. They glide across the stage with a hypnotic, artificial quality that sees them possess a strong grasp on every word. Their movement is slickly refined, with a balletic quality and well-established sophistication, and their chemistry and trust as a pair is admirable. That said, due to the constraints of the script, their performances are limited in energy, so they are restrained to only visually enthral rather than fully engage the audience in the narrative.

The production’s main detriment is in the collaboration between Howlett’s writing and direction. Both are incredibly clever and innovative, yet, despite mainly coexisting in tonal harmony, too often it seems like they are sparring for the audience’s attention. Between the complex narrative and stimulating direction, there is too much going on for anything to sink in, with such a wordy play meeting its fatal flaw when the direction doesn’t give space to enhance the audience’s understanding of these complex layers. If a play is going to strive to have such aggressively intellectual material, the direction must seek to make this more coherent, instead of being stuck in an eternal battle to prove its own worth.

The concept for The Plot is a very exciting one, and it provides an elegantly intellectual approach to its own narrative that pushes the theatrical medium to its maximum potential. However, an awkward misunderstanding of the balance between art and entertainment means this is a disappointingly tepid production that lacks the vividity of last year’s Aether, and the choice to focus too much on history rather than any modern relevance means The Plot is, unfortunately, nothing explosive.

The Plot plays at Summerhall (Main Hall) at 19:30 until 31st August. Tickets from https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/the-plot

Photos by Giulia Ferrando