Review: How to Win Against History, Wardrobe Theatre

You may not have heard of Henry Cyril Paget, the cross-dressing fifth Marquis of Anglesey. But, by the end of this wonderful, spangly riot of a musical, you will both know and love him.

Paget was born in 1875 into the aristocratic Anglesey clain, and into the rigid social structure of Eton and Empire. Temperamentally unsuited for that tweed-clad, buttoned-up world, he instead burned briefly and brightly, squandering the Anglesey fortunes on sequinned costumes and diamond-studded plays in the family chapel (which he had gutted and converted into a theatre. Not one for half measures, HCP).

All this camp, distinctly unmasculine extravagance didn’t sit well with the rest of the Angleseys, who – upon the Marquis’ death at the age of 29, in the suitably glamorous Monte Carlo – burned every trace of his life.

By turns foppish and poignant, witty and deeply sad, Seiriol Davies’ musical (in which he also stars as the out-of-place aristo) is a beautiful, hilarious, quicksilver rush through a life judged a failure but, taken on its own distinctive terms, wanting for nothing in terms of drama, beauty and – HCP’s raison d’etre – Art.

Pics: Mihaela Bodlovic

Under Alex Swift’s smart, precise direction, the cast of three – Davies; Matthew Blake as various, er, straighter characters in Paget’s life (both male and female); and musical accompanist Dylan Townley, sporting a look of mild bewilderment surely common to many who crossed Paget’s path – give us a stunning, sparkling, hilarious and emotional musical comedy about a life lived on its own terms.

The songs, jokes, parodies and whipcrack character sketches tumble headlong one after the other. To take just one example among many, a mini song cycle that has Paget, his faithful companion Alexander Keith and a fellow actor touring the country with one of Paget’s obscure theatrical offerings, makes a wonderful journey from optimism to gathering fatigue and disillusionment – all of it as crisply witty as everything else in the play.

Underneath all the laughter, though, about how fabulous, sparkly and theatrical Paget is, and how long-suffering are his various companions, some Big Issues are smuggled deftly in – about masculinity, campness, success and failure, how the rigid face of Empire actually felt to live behind.

All three performers are totally engaged and completely, in fact awesomely, at home in this fast-paced, multi-roling mix of music and comedy. Davies, as Paget, mesmerises – his gestures balletic and graceful, the naïve, hopeful twinkle in his eye hilarious and yet increasingly poignant.

Davies’ script, too, is as beautiful and intricately crafted as one of the diamonds so beloved of its protagonist, landing somewhere between Monty Python and Flanders and Swann (‘Eton, Eton/Pull up a peasant to put your feet on’ is one of a hundred twinkling little comic gems) and yet also inhabiting its own unique world of beauty, wit and, yes, sadness.

A poignant biography, a fascinating time capsule, a visual feast, but above all relentlessly funny from start to finish – catch this wonderful show before the entire run deservedly sells out. Henry Cyril Paget would want you there.

How to Win Against History, a co-presentation with Tobacco Factory Theatres BEYOND, continues at the Wardrobe Theatre until Saturday, Nov 11. For more info and to book tickets, visit thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/how-to-win-against-history

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