Profound, painful, funny, and brilliant; there are not words enough to describe The Nine Day Queen.
How do we go on living when there is so much to fear? What gets us through the worst moments of our lives? These are just two of the questions that The Nine Day Queen explores. An exceptional work of art, it is difficult to explain the emotional experience of watching Jen Tucker’s original show. Following 15-year-old Rita hallucinating the ghost of Lady Jane Grey, the story explores themes of guilt, rage, and what it is to live as a woman. Brought to life by a gifted actors of Itchy Feet Theatre Company, The Nine Day Queen is live theatre at its finest.
Staged in a small thrust theatre, the audience is immediately immersed in the story. Under direction from Jen Tucker and movement director Elise Gibson, impressively intelligent staging brought the space to life. With only four actors and really only two onstage at a time, they were able to create interesting pictures that engaged every side of the audiences by constantly moving and ensuring that every audience member had a variety of perspectives. Simple lighting enhanced the visuals and well-selected music intensified the tone and relatability of the scenes; the music Beth Scott selected was especially memorable for how well suited it was, not only to the scenes, but to the character, Rita.
A small yet gifted cast brought life to this poignant story. Moya Matthew’s performance as Lena is subtle and lovely, bringing much joy and a character that you cannot help but love to the stage; her chemistry with White’s Rita is wonderfully youthful and loving. Lizzie O’Reilly’s performance as Val is unfortunately a bit flat but pleasant nonetheless. The performances of Maddie White and Samantha Allison as Rita and Lady Jane Grey respectively are beyond reproach. White lights up the stage with a fiery passion that mixes emotions with humor and sarcasm, perfectly embodying the maelstrom that is a 15-year-old girl in the face of loss. Allison’s performance is much more subtle and contrasts beautifully with White. She embodies the refinement of a queen, delivering many of the most powerful lines of the show, while also conveying compassion, confusion, and anger with expressions and movements subtle enough for film yet effective enough for the stage. White and Allison have a remarkable natural chemistry that perfectly suits their characters as they find strength in coming together in the face of suffering and adversity.
Above all, it is the brilliance of Jen Tucker’s writing that makes this show so memorable. She has an incredible ability to infuse comedy into the grimmest and most heartbreaking of tales without detracting from the story’s overall impact. Her writing effortlessly navigates suffering and joy in a complex cross-generational story. Not only has she taken us on a beautifully tragic journey in The Nine Day Queen, she has written lines so poignant and compelling that they stick in the brain and you find yourself reflecting on them for days. She has effectively put words to the historically transcendent anxieties and angers of women.
It is profoundly sad to be confronted by the many ways the experiences of women have not changed and yet it is empowering to see how we can find strength in each other. To live as a woman is to know the experiences which Jen Tucker has put to words. The Nine Day Queen is an unforgettable work of theatre that cannot be done justice by written words; it is not a show to be missed.