Review: Monarchs Anonymous, Rotunda Theatre Bubble- Brighton Fringe

(Photo Credit: Rob Trendy @shotbytrendy)

Come on in! Welcome Royals from all corners of the timeline to group therapy. You’ll have to make do with a regular chair, we don’t have room in the budget for thrones. Yes, there are a lot of big egos in the room, but I think everyone will get along nicely if we remember what the very trustworthy and law-abiding Dr Thompson says: ‘Divine right doesn’t mean I am always right.’

Created by Nadia Devereux and Joshua Poole, this show started out as a comedy series on YouTube. In 2021, after Ceridwen Theatre Company took an interest in developing the show for the stage, ‘Monarchs Anonymous’ gained funding from Arts Council England. Last year, the show performed a private rehearsed reading at The Arcola Theatre. Following the recent run at Brighton Fringe, the show will be heading to London next month for a run at The Other Palace Studio. 

Upon watching the original YouTube series, it's clear to see why ‘Monarchs Anonymous’ has been adapted for the stage. Live theatre seems to lend itself better to the setting of the show and enables a new kind of immersion, where we are all invited, to an extent, to become a part of the group therapy session. With gold foil paper crowns adorned, we all recite the MA mantra and we are ready to begin.

Three writers, Nadia Devereux, Joshua Poole and Lyon Devereux, form a strong alliance and there’s a lot to be said for how strategic and clever their writing is. Marrying therapy terms with historical facts and bedecking them with comedy jewels works to create a show that is as entertaining as it is educational. Clowning combines with snappy one-liners, which means that the more deep aspects of the show are wrapped up in a velvet cloak of bonkers. 

The choice to showcase a mix of known and lesser known royals allows us to potentially gain new perspectives on familiar names, and discover those who have been overshadowed by colonialist, white-washed versions of history. I’ll admit, I’d never heard of ‘Mansa Musa I’ or ‘Princess Sophia Duleep Singh’ before seeing the show, I’ll definitely be making the effort to learn more about them and others outside of the narrow sphere of western history I was taught.

Not only does this show give off a ‘Horrible Histories’ esque feel in how it shares information, but it also raises a lot of currently debated questions: What defines a monarch? Are monarchs a product of history? Do royals still have a place in society and, if so, what should it look like? How much power could/should a monarch have now?

So this show is definitely intellectually stimulating, however there is another side to it.

George Eggay’s portrayal of the world’s richest man, Mansa Musa, confronts the idea of who we remember and who we forget, whilst Joshua Poole conveys the depth of grief that Charles II must have felt over the death of his father, which we frequently overlook because it's far too easy to picture the party animal- but to be fair, the party animal is a lot of fun, especially given Poole’s charisma. 

Yes, they were royals, but they were also real people with fears and hopes and dreams. People with the capacity for change in the right circumstances.  

Given the show’s exploration of the role of therapy and therapists, I think it’s fair to say that maybe history might have gone a little differently if these royals were given legitimately safe spaces- free from the public eye and societal pressures- and many, many therapy sessions. 

Packing more than a few surprising twists and turns, this highly energetic performance has my royal seal of approval, and it's clear that these monarchs have as much to learn from us as we still have to learn from them. 

Taking its place amongst the likes of ‘Blackadder’ and ‘Histories’, this show will have you thinking seriously and thinking ‘Seriously?! Omigodd lol!’ 

**** Four stars

Age rating: Twelve plus.

Content notes: Mental health/therapy references, references to discrimination, historical references, a reference to empire and colonialism, references to death/grief, audience interaction. 

For more information and tickets: https://www.monarchsanonymous.co.uk