The 47th. Old Vic.

The 47^th explores what might happen in the run-up to a bitterly conflictive 2024 presidential fight between Trump and Kamala Harris.

9 April 2022

Mike Bartlett loves to play with language.

His Scandaltown at the Lyric has the intricate narrative structure and cynical take on human nature of the restoration comedy.

The 47^th, like his 2014 triumph Charles III, is partly scripted in Shakespearean iambic pentameter, and has at its core the Bard’s preoccupation with isolation, social breakdown, and the sense that the unfolding of events is sometimes inevitable or inescapable.

Of course, conflict is everywhere in Shakespeare’s plays – between generations, philosophies, dogmas, and classes, and within the minds of so many of his central characters (think Macbeth or Hamlet). And it is a reasonable enough conceit to represent the bitterly conflicted partisan divide in American politics as a titanic conflict of Shakespearean proportions.

So, a theatrical reimagining of the vicious political machinations of the Democrat / Republican feud in the language and structure of York versus Lancaster, or Montague versus Capulet, certainly offers some obvious dramatic promise.

Does it work?

Yes, although better as comic pastiche than as audacious drama. Partly I think that is because the real-life tragedy of Trump is not yet remotely done. It is difficult to sit back and watch drama unfold, when we know in our hearts that the real-life denouement is yet to be written.

Suitably enough for such a figure of monstrous renown (a least to liberal Londoners) the play begins with a Richard III style prologue by a Florida-orange Trump demanding “just revenge” on “all those that forced me from my rightful house” four years previously.

Bertie Cavell, who plays Trump certainly has the tics and mannerisms of the real-life former President’s (I am tempted to say he that is ‘rudely stamped and wants love’s majesty’) but to my mind is too softly-spoken and lyrically gifted to resonate as the real thing.

In seeking his ‘just revenge’ Trump has firstly to choose a mate for a presidential re-run.

So, with echoes of King Lear, he chooses between his three offspring. The scheming and immaculately groomed Ivanka (a wonderful turn by Lydia Wilson) becomes Trump’s chosen partner, but she, meanwhile, has hidden ambitions of her own and is not inclined to let dad get in the way.

Trump soon dispatches his competitor for presidential pick, Ted Cruz, from the scene (shades of Julius Caesar here) and scares Biden off running for a second term with a ghostly curse – think Macbeth.

Kamala Harris becomes the great hope of the Democratic tribe, indeed even of democracy itself, and the central question of the play emerges – what moral sacrifices will she have to make to ensure good promises over evil?

In the ensuing battle between the assembled forces of light and dark, much is made of the iconography and idiom of the infamous storming of the Capitol building in Washington DC (e.g., bull-horned headdress, guns, and the flag).  Director Rupert Goold runs the riot scenes as a kind of stylised dance, which rather takes away from the chaotic cacophony of hate that real rioting often demonstrates.

Betrayal, disloyalty, and duplicity aplenty mark the unfolding story, and the final denouement brought to mind shades of Richard II (think Kamala as Henry Bolingbroke).

All this might sound a little like Shakespearean bingo, with a prize for identifying all the references to the Bard’s canon the writer has slipped in. That is certainly some of the fun of the play, as is the richly textured and often poetic dialogue. I do not often buy playscripts, but this one is definitively worth the expense.

If the resolution of the central narrative feels contrived and simplistic, which to me it does, it is perhaps because it is all too much like wishful thinking. The tragedy of the real Trump will not, unfortunately, be solved so satisfactorily.

Absolutely worth seeing.

Mike Bartlett Writer

Rupert Goold Director

Miriam Buether Set

Evie Gurney Costume

Neil Austin Lighting

Tony Gayle Sound

Bertie Carvel Donald Trump

Tamara Tunie Kamala Harris

Lydia Wilson Ivanka Trump

James Garnon Ted Cruz/Paul

Richard Hansell Steve Richetti/Ohio Senator

Oscar Lloyd Donald Jnr/Matt

Jenni Maitland Heidi Cruz/Moderator/CIA

Freddie Meredith Eric Trump

Joss Carter Shaman

Ben Onwukwe General Taylor

Cherrelle Skeete Tina Flournoy/Nurse Vita

Ami Tredrea Rosie Takahashi

Simon Williams Joe Biden

David Carr Ensemble

David Tarkente Ensemble

Kaja Chan Ensemble

James Cooney Ensemble

Charlie Takahashi Ensemble

Charles Craddock Ensemble

Flora Dawson Ensemble

Eva Fontaine Ensemble

Duration: 2 hours 30 mins. One interval.

Full Disclosure: I paid full box-office price for the ticket.