Synopsis

A fabulous musical for schools; not so much a black comedy, more a black pantomime telling the tale of the Gunpowder Plot. A certain amount of audience participation is encouraged at various points in the proceedings.

In some respects this is very much a tale of our time, given the central, underlying reason for the attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament was religious intolerance - in this instance Protestants vs Catholics.

Queen Elizabeth I on her deathbed, charges Lord Robert Cecil, the Earl of Salisbury and her Secretary Of State, to continue the subjugation of the country's Catholic population. Cecil, the archetypal villain in the play accepts her wishes with relish - he enjoys subterfuge, coercion, conspiracy and manipulating people. With the passing of the old Queen, King James (a shallow and stupid man) is crowned and his sycophantic supporters, notably Lord Thomas Percy, then find it easy to persuade him to relax the previous persecution of Catholicism. Lord Cecil however quickly reminds the new King of the debt he owes him, and the relaxation is swiftly reversed.

Percy, in despair over this, discusses the problem over a pint of ale with his friend Robert Catesby - a hothead who has hatched a plan to strike at the very heart of the Protestant parliamentarians; the Gunpowder Plot. Cecil, adopting the role of spymaster, listens in to their conversation, and then 'leans' on the landlord to eavesdrop on any future meetings, or his pub will be burnt to the ground.

Catesby and Percy decide to interview prospective conspirators needed for the execution of the plan. These conspirators are recruited from a group of rather odd people, who each have a certain peculiarity, during a Pythonesque scene which is more pantomime than play. Cecil by this time is fully aware of their plans, but not the timing. He blackmails Francis Tresham to infiltrate their number to find this out for him.

Act Two opens with the conspirators moving the barrels of gunpowder into position, while Cecil with Tresham in his power mocks their preparations. The scene changes to one where King James presides over a session of Parliament with such topical matters discussed as bridlepath congestion, the break-up of the nationwide 'coach and four' network into many, smaller companies resulting in late arrivals, and the problem of old people having to wait six months for a doctor to apply leeches to them. The Chief Minister (a thinly disguised Tony Blair) arrives late and attempts to paint a rosy picture of these problems, until the King decides he has heard enough.

Fawkes prepares to light the fuse, but is discovered at the vital moment by Cecil, and is carted off to The Tower, where three torturers (Jack the Rack, Hugh the Screw and Brian the Iron) in preparing their instruments of torture carry on a conversation full of gallows humour. More pantomime here, with the 'Oh, yes we do - Oh no we don't' audience routine, finally resulting in Fawkes signing a confession. Cecil having no further use for Tresham then 'despatches' him, before giving the damning evidence at the trial of the conspirators sitting before the Attorney General, Lord Edward Coke. Being a sadist, Coke delights in giving each of the remaining eight conspirators their sentence of death, becoming more 'over the top' with each one. The musical closes with Fawkes being given one last chance to reiterate his innocence, before he too is snuffed out.

'1605 And All That' has an exceptionally well-written script with excellent musical numbers that complement the story being told. The subject matter is covered in an easy-to-understand manner in a generally comedic style which ranges from satire to slapstick. Whilst historically all the characters except Queen Elizabeth were male, and thus shown in the script as male, it would be possible for many of the roles to be played by female actors pretending to be men.

Characters

Songs