A tale of what might have been between the King of England and a queen of the silver screen

There’s a pleasing synchronicity to Ron Elisha’s take on the abdication of Edward VIII and how no less a femme fatale than Marlene Dietrich might have tried to change history by getting him to ‘fall in love' again. The play arrives onstage just as royals seeking to abdicate their duties are the talk of the Twittersphere and the world press.

The Jewish Australian playwright is exercised by Dietrich’s well-known and prescient horror at the rise of Hitler, her fear of the war and atrocities it could presage. Elisha discovered that Dietrich did attempt to visit Edward at his Surrey home the night before he abdicated in 1936, prepared to do whatever it took to get him to give up his beloved Wallis Simpson and retain the crown. It led Elisha to imagine what might have happened if Dietrich’s limo had not been turned back at the gates.

In the intimate King’s Head Theatre, surrounded by audience on three sides, Ashton Spear’s amiable, self-deprecating Edward and Ramona von Pusch’s elegant, intelligent Dietrich advance and retreat in an elaborate dance of seduction and demur, discreetly directed by Tama Matheson. The walls and floor of the set are lined with headlines and newsprint, and indeed not only are the pair clothed in shades of black, grey and silver, but the great screen siren sports monochrome makeup. It makes for a clever nod both to the newspapers and the black and white films of the silver screen.

Lovers of 30s fashion will relish the succession of gorgeous gowns into which the star slips to snare her royal prey, though there are longueurs while she slips offstage to do so. Von Pusch has a decent stab at caressing a microphone à la Dietrich, though her voice does not have quite the husky fullness of the songstress herself. Spear has rather less to live up to here, for common knowledge of image and audio of Edward VIII are rather more limited and he plays the sympathy card with ease. Nonetheless the sheer spunk and ingenuity of the star von Pusch channels is jaw-dropping as Elisha has her try almost anything – even playing the musical saw – to get the lovesick monarch to snap out of it.

In an intriguing moment Edward reveals that the new coin ready for circulation bearing his head makes a radical break with the tradition of alternating the direction in which the monarch’s head faces in each new reign, just because he is vain enough to insist on his preferred left profile. Given his abdication the very next day, it never went into circulation. It was enchanting to hear in the news the morning after press night that a 22-carat coin, thought to be one of only two examples in private ownership featuring Edward VIII’s head, had been bought for £1 million, setting a new record for a British coin. I’m sure I’m not the only audience member who felt like they had inside knowledge. This charming evening does beguile with its provocative ‘what if’.

By Judi Herman

Photos by Phil Swallow Photography

Falling in Love Again runs until Saturday 8 February. 7pm, 3pm (8 Feb & Sun only). From £19.50 (£18 concs). King’s Head Theatre, N1 1QN. www.kingsheadtheatre.com