Richard Nelson’s play, Springwood, about the US-UK ‘special relationship ‘, has arrived at Hampstead Theatre.
King George VI (‘Bertie’) and Queen Elizabeth are arriving as the guests of Franklin (FDR) and Eleanor Roosevelt at their country home, Springwood.
It’s June 1939, and war is on the horizon. No reigning British monarch had ever set foot in the USA. This was a diplomatic move intended to seek American assistance against Germany.
The facts as set out in this play are broadly true. There was a picnic, with hot dogs. Eleanor Roosevelt did have her own house, Val-Kill, nearby where she lived part-time with women furniture-makers.
However, there is a question mark over Daisy Suckley and her relationship with the president – the 2012 film Hyde Park on Hudson says they were more than friends, but historians have doubts.
The other characters in Springwood are FDR’s mother, Sara, his secretary Missy LeHand, the King’s aide Captain Campbell – here as ‘Cameron’, moody maid Mary, and the President’s aide Tommy – the real ‘Tommy’ was Eleanor’s secretary Malvina Thompson.
There is significant meat in this story, but it is best approached as a two-hour character study of two men in power several thousand miles apart. Robert Lindsay‘s polio-stricken FDR and Andrew Havill’s stuttering Bertie are very different, but find common ground and vulnerability.
This is the play trying to get out of the noise within Springwood. Like the earlier play by Wally Sewell, Power Luncheon (which dramatised a meeting between George VI and Churchill), it is strongest as a two-hander. These men are the most powerful and interesting in the room.
Eleanor Roosevelt’s strength as a woman and journalist is somewhat muted in Nelson’s writing and Jemma Redgrave‘s portrayal. She stands for duty, as the Queen does, but she is relegated to the shadows.
Rebecca Night is good as the buttoned-up Elizabeth, bewildered by American symbolism and looking for someone to pour her tea in the morning. And Eileen Nicholas’s prickly Mother adds a light side to proceedings.
This is a long play that promises more than it eventually delivers. As Nelson took over as director when previously announced Stanley Tucci became unavailable, I wonder if this might have benefitted from having another pair of eyes on the production.
It’s presented with the audience on three sides of the action, outside of the proscenium arch. The actors clear furniture and set scenes, and some major moments are told to us rather than shown.
There is a lack of resolution here, despite the topicality of the UK and USA relying on each other as allies. Even the often-mentioned hot dogs never materialise on stage, and there is a limit to how many times characters can tell us “the walls are very thin”.
Despite some strong performances – Rachel Pickup as Daisy is graceful and dignified – Springwood left me a little unsatisfied and wanting more focus and purpose.
I’m giving this 3 stars.
Springwood continues at Hampstead Theatre until 25 Jul – details here.
Photo credit: Manuel Harlan