“In Fennelly’s jaw-dropping production, every moment is stunning and unpredictable. The direction is crisp and crystalline, endlessly imaginative.”

In Fennelly’s jaw-dropping production, every moment is stunning and unpredictable. The direction is crisp and crystalline, endlessly imaginative. The spectacular sound design, composed by Stephanie Robinson, is complemented by Jason Thompson’s eye-popping lighting. This tale of Edward II, the king whose openly admitted homosexuality led to his own torture, his lover’s execution and his country’s civil war, evokes modern-day images of an intolerant military and homophobic violence. It says a lot about politics and power-plays, and the vanities and caprices of past and present arbiters of society’s destiny. The performances are variable, but potent at the center, with Corey Brill a credibly ineffectual but ultimately majestic monarch and Alex Smith ruthless as his adversary. Here’s a classic conflict between the scheming rationalist and the emotional impulsive, a dramatic treatise on the bloody farce of history. It’s a cautionary tale, brilliantly, gorgeously told.