Rev Stan's Theatre Blog

Kate Chase (Wallis Currie-Wood) was the daughter of politician Salmon P Chase (Darrell Brockis) and was famed as a society hostess.

She was intelligent, had a keen social intuition and political awareness. In Thomas Klingenstein’s play Our American Queen, we see Kate garnering support for her father’s efforts to take the Republican Party nomination from President Abraham Lincoln.

As part of the plan, she is going to marry the wealthy Governor William Sprague, whose support and financial backing are important to her father. To Sprague, Kate is a trophy.

But there are two other men in Kate’s life. John Hay (Tom Victor) works in Lincoln’s office, is a poet in temperament if not skill and enjoys discussing and debating literature with Kate.

Then there is General McClellan (Haydn Hoskins), who is married and yet doesn’t hide his feelings for her.

She is at ease in male company and seems to struggle with other women, taking against her widowed father’s suitor, Mrs Eastman (Christy Meyer) and refusing her advice.

Our American Queen takes a look at Kate Chase through her relationships with these different men, examining love, loyalty and ambition.

It is also a play about a father and daughter, albeit one that does leave you wondering at the reasons for her devotion towards her father.

She is a woman who has, in one sense, earned her place in a patriarchal society, earning respect from some of the most powerful and yet is still willing to sacrifice much for the benefit of the opposite sex.

The staging centres on a large dining room table, which at one point gets set for a lavish dinner party. It could feel constraining, but the actors make the most of it.

There is also a large portrait hanging at the end of the table, which changes images. At one point, it contains the live filmed image of Kate and then her father.

However, it feels like an embellishment without a real purpose other than to do something different with the staging.

Similarly, towards the end of the play, an act involving the dining table feels like contrived drama. It certainly made the audience sit up.

The performances in Our American Queen are excellent, but the script does feel a little bloated with unnecessarily long scenes that add little to the play’s themes and create problems with the pacing.

It is the final third where the play really comes into its own, and Kate has to make life-changing choices.

Final thoughts

Our American Queen is an interesting story of a fascinating woman and well acted, but it suffers from some odd staging choices and a script that could do with some pruning. I’m giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Our American Queen, Bridewell Theatre

Written by Thomas Klingenstein

Directed by Christopher McElroen

Cast includes Wallis Currie-Wood and Darrell Brockis

Runnning time: 1 hour 40 minutes with no interval.

Booking until 7 February for more information and to book tickets, visit the Bridewell Theatre website.

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