The Virgin Trial: a thriller of a queen
25 Jan 2019

by Drew Rowsome - Photos by Cylla von Tiedemann

The Virgin Trial is a thriller done with high gloss telenovela finesse. There is political intrigue, romance, torture, considerable conniving and enough drama and repressed sex and violence to fuel an entire season of Dynasty or House of Cards. It is also an historical portrait of Queen Elizabeth I as a teenager, but done in contemporary dress and speech, the parallels to contemporary times are vivid though never driven home unnecessarily. The suspense is nail-bitingly delicious.

At the centre of the battle of wits and nerve, is Bahia Watson as Elizabeth, colloquially loved as "Bess." Did she plot with Thomas Seymour to murder her brother for the throne? Did she seduce Thom into her plot? Did Thom seduce her? Watson wears a veneer of childlike innocence, Bess is 15-years-old at the time of The Virgin Trial, that turns instantly into coquettishness, regality, malevolance or careful calculation, as needed. That she somehow remains the protagonist the audience is rooting for, is partly Watson's skill and partly that the text by Kate Hennig (who was herself a mercurial Margaret Thatcher in The Audience) is stacked in a feminist direction. It is easy to believe that Watson could grow up to be the Bette Davis version of Queen Elizabeth I and that is a high compliment.

Hennig, without ever diluting the drama or being obvious, has a lot of points to make about celebrity culture, the validity of royalty, sexual abuse, family, and the continual underestimation of women and their abilities. Bess's future hinges on the word "virgin" and Hennig posits why Elizabeth I decided to become known as the Virgin Queen. Without her virginity, Bess loses her popularity in the tabloid press as well as her, as her sister Mary (Helen Knight) remarks, "international trading potential." But it is also more. Bess almost loses her position, her star quality, for love and/or lust. She tells of why the gods demanded virgin sacrifices and of the fire and power roiling inside her slim frame. It is a finely tuned metaphor that ignites Watson's stellar performance.

Not that it matters, but Hennig's take is historically accurate with wiggle room for interpretation. My knowledge of Elizabethan history is shaky to non-existent, but a quick google confirmed some of the salient plot points and the potential for the skulduggery. During The Virgin Trial, my ignorance was no impediment to my enjoyment, and I never felt lost or wishing I had done research before attending. Part of that is the contemporary language. Andre Morin as a swishy courtier gets the biggest laugh when he exits with the line, "Straight men . . . un-fucking-believable." He also gets the most sympathy courtesy of a clever twist in the staging that echoes Guantanamo in a horrific fashion and ends in a brutal epithet.

The performances are all precisely calibrated with Nigel Bennett, Yanna McIntosh and Laura Condlln (Sisters, Fun Home, An Enemy of the People, Sextet) all doing deviously passionate work. Brad Hodder as Thom is virile enough to be either the cad or the hero, and just charming and mysterious enough to not be reviled. He is, as is the play as an entity, partially undone by the finale that stretches for poetry when it was satisfying enough as drama. It may be Watson who shines as she pivots through multiple personality aspects, but she has solid sparring partners who match her.

This is a production imported from Stratford (the photos included here are of the original production) but it fits well within the Soulpepper mandate. The set design by Yannik Larivee is not only simple and effective but it bridges the time periods and makes a statement on its own. Director Alan Dilworth (The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?) keeps the pace as rapid as the plot is twisting, and milks each metaphor without being obvious. Perhaps the most delicious aspect of The Virgin Trial, the soapy suspense that can be found in a historical drama and applied to today.