Writer and Director: Nadia Lines
An erotic vision of Jesus cures fourteenth-century housewife Margery Kempe of her postpartum depression. Her vision of Christ sitting beside her on the creaking truckle bed marks Margery’s own rebirth into an eventful life of faith, pain and international pilgrimage. One of the most remarkable memoirs in the English language, The Book of Margery Kempe, is the basis for this engaging drama. Writer and director Nadia Lines shepherds the sprawling source material with a light, contemporary touch into an hour-long play that is poignant, forthright and surprisingly funny.
It’s impressive to create so much comedy from the 650-year-old life story of a woman who rarely stops crying and is famous for her anguished public wailing. Amenie Groves manages to make Margery simultaneously knowing and innocent, pert and passionate. Her relationship with Jesus (a fabulously insouciant Akshit Ahuja) is at the heart of the show’s quickly fluctuating humour and pathos.
Some laughs are generated by deliberately anachronistic moments like the Canterbury publican with a sign saying “No visions of the passion”. But cast and director also highlight inherently farcical scenes such as Margery’s wheedling husband (Artemis Loynes) asking if she would have sex with him to save him from having his head cut off, one of many situations straight from the original book.
After a successful January run in the Corpus Playroom in Cambridge, The Book of Margery Kempe has been revived for the Camden Fringe. Its comedic twist on a classic and air of polished experiment make it perfect fringe fodder. The clash of spiritual and domestic registers is beautifully introduced in the opening scene where mystical music accompanies Margery’s early visions and is abruptly interrupted each time her husband shouts from next door to ask about his breeches. Stan Hunt’s excellent sound design helps lift the production beyond the limits of a sparsely-furnished stage. Effects and synchronised action recreate Margery’s journeys by horse, cart and sea-going boat.
Irisa Kwok, as an iconic, blue-cloaked Mary, anchors the play’s more serious side, helping provide a few genuinely moving moments. Theo Parkin’s entertainingly melodramatic turn as Bishop Graham condenses the many patriarchal forces ranged against Margery into short, spitting diatribes against preaching “wimmin” and a long swishing black coat. Margery Kempe is an unexpectedly light-hearted piece of ensemble theatre, giving modern audiences some amusing, quickfire glimpses into a meandering medieval classic.
Runs until 9 August 2024
Camden Fringe runs until 25 August 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Surprisingly funny
