Guy Fawkes Comedy Review

Kayleigh Wittenbrink

David Reeds’ play Guy Fawkes relives the historical event of the weeks leading up to the night of November 5th in 1605 through a comical yet thrilling perspective.

The play entices the audience as it focuses the event through a dramatic storyline conveying the behaviours and actions of the protagonist, Guy Fawkes, whilst highlighting the lifestyle between men in the workforce and their stay-athome wives.

Through a dark and ominous atmosphere, the play begins with the character’s demand for revenge against the King and the Parliament with the aim to alter the course of history. Guy Fawkes desired revenge as a result of King James I’s mistreatment towards the English Catholic religion.

Throughout the play, Reed incorporates a range of props including a turning table stage in order to symbolise the movement of events which eventually lead up to the night of the plot. As the characters devise a plan to dig a tunnel towards Parliament, they begin to doubt and think about what would potentially happen if the plan failed. As the characters begin to rethink their plans, they receive news that the cellar underneath Parliament is rented.

Fawkes constructs a new plan which would involve storing gunpowder in the cellar which would eventually be used to blow up Parliament and kill King James I. While the mission is making progress, Fawkes discovers that Robert Catesby collected 36 barrels of gunpowder after Fawkes explicitly told him three to six barrels would be more than enough to destroy Westminster.

This scene highlights the ruthless effects of their plot. After watching the suspenseful plot taking place, I was fascinated with the ending as Reed used a dramatic twist which leaves the audience wondering what happens next as the Gunpowder Plot doesn’t actually catch fire.