By Arjan Arenas
Rating: 4.5 stars
When I first heard about The Motive and the Cue when it premiered at the National Theatre last year, my interest was immediately piqued. A play dramatizing professional tensions between John Gielgud and Richard Burton, directed by none other than Sam Mendes, sounded right up my street. Unfortunately, I missed the original run at the National, so I seized the opportunity to see it when it transferred to the West End last month for a limited run at the Noël Coward Theatre. Jack Thorne’s play was engagingly written, performed against a ‘60s set stylishly designed by Es Devlin, and was brought to life by an impressive cast, all of which successfully illustrated a clash of personalities between two theatrical legends.
The Motive and the Cue takes place in New York in 1964, where Gielgud (Mark Gatiss) is directing a Broadway production of Hamlet, with Burton (Johnny Flynn) playing the Dane. The 60-year-old Gielgud, once the most respected classical stage actor of his generation, is directing the production because, as he confesses glumly at one point, “I haven’t had an offer this good in years.” The 38-year-old Burton, on the other hand, has enjoyed a stratospheric career rise and is newly and (apparently) happily (or so it seems) married to the world’s most beautiful woman, Elizabeth Taylor (Tuppence Middleton). While the first rehearsal gets off to a promising start, hostilities steadily emerge between the notoriously alcoholic Burton, a loose cannon, and the man the rest of the cast reverently call “Sir John”.
Although the rest of the cast do well, they inevitably dissolve into the background compared to the three central personalities of Gielgud, Burton and Taylor. It’s impossible for any actor or actress to perfectly replicate such uniquely charismatic personalities, but for the most part, Flynn makes an impressive, clearly studied effort. It’s no mean feat for him to reproduce Burton’s distinctive accent – Hollywood transatlantic with a sprinkling of Welsh – and he conveys the man’s mercurial nature in his increasingly converging professional and personal lives. However, Flynn mainly focuses on Burton’s more outrageous, drunk side, with his quieter, more introspective side only emerging towards the end of the play. Middleton – a good actress, also tackling a tough role – is satisfactory enough as a gregarious Taylor, whose influence lingers over her husband.
Yet the play ultimately belongs to Gatiss, who is exceptional as Gielgud. He expertly captures the actor’s famously smooth voice and precise diction, savouring every syllable, and he makes the most out of having the funniest lines, delivering scathingly catty critiques of Burton’s acting. However, he is also excellent in displaying Gielgud’s inner turmoil beneath the composed exterior, stemming from both his ailing career and his struggles as a gay man at a time when male homosexuality was still illegal in the UK, and only recently legalised in the States. A scene later in the play in which he awkwardly brings a rent boy back to his lonely hotel room is at times hilarious, but imbued with pathos. It’s a stunning performance, one for which I hope Gatiss will at least be in the running for a well-deserved Olivier Award.
Thorne’s script offers great insight into the contrasting personalities and acting styles of Gielgud and Burton. Nonetheless, the dialogue when they reflect on their different backgrounds often sounds impersonal, like it has been lifted straight from their Wikipedia pages (which, at one point, it literally is). Still, Mendes’ direction keeps the play going at a quick pace. The music also does a great job of personifying the two men: many of Gielgud’s movements between scenes are accompanied by some up-tempo Bach pieces, while composer Benjamin Kwasi Burrell uses brooding, jazzy piano to reflect Burton’s angst.
Overall, The Motive and the Cue is an enjoyable play which does a great job of bringing its protagonists back to life and reflecting on the struggles faced by actors in playing an iconic, demanding role. Theatre buffs won’t be disappointed.
