Natalie Abrahami’s production is a searing 90 minutes that deals with history you’ll probably know, from angles you might not...it’s hard not to be impressed by Elizabeth’s cold-eyed triumph.'
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A fierce, bright flame of a play, blazing with brains and beauty...brilliantly reimagines Elizabeth I as a historical icon stripped bare and equipped with a 21st-century sensibility.'
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Where the play succeeds is in demonstrating Elizabeth’s skill in countering male manoeuvres. Vividly staged, the play reignites one’s interest in Elizabeth without persuading one of the contemporary parallels.'
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A potent study of women, power and patriarchy...Hickson writes with her usual mix of wit, intelligence, empathy and a metallic clarity of thought, interlacing history with anachronism...'
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...Ella Hickson’s clever, funny and indignant new play, takes a haunting look at the predicament of Elizabeth I... shifts between grimly gleeful anachronism and historical empathy.'
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Pacy, dagger-sharp rewriting of history...Hickson's play is a thrillingly irreverent reframing of a well-trodden past, brilliantly innovative...'
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Abrahami’s production has a keen sense of atmosphere...Hickson is a deeply intelligent writer who can blaze through to big truths, and even on a lower wattage Swive offers smart and pertinent insights...'
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