‘The Single Lady’ chronicles the scandalous secret love life of Queen Elizabeth I, daughter of the infamous Anne Boleyn. In this new ‘pop’ musical the so-called ‘Virgin Queen’ proves herself to be nothing of the sort—this musical oozes sexuality. When Elizabeth finds herself caught in a love triangle between her cousin and her childhood friend she must decide if it is worth it to sacrifice everything for love—including her throne.
‘The Single Lady’ is a production by Tone Deaf Theatre Company (Durham University) and is written and directed by Lauren Brewer and Will Geraint Drake. It must be said that lyrically, the songs in this musical are fantastic. They are well-written, witty, and at times downright hilarious. Brewer and Drake should be commended for their song-writing skills, however, sonically the songs begin to sound a little samey over time. There is definitely a formula which becomes overused, unfortunately meaning that there are few stand-out or memorable songs from the musical. The ‘Six’ and ‘Hamilton’ influences are obvious, especially with the Destiny’s Child-esque (at times) R&B soundtrack and rapping. This is not a bad thing, however it is ambitious, and sometimes the cast manage to fall short.
Lucie Fletcher as Elizabeth is the clear standout, not only because she plays the lead character, but as her vocals are unmatched. Fletcher is without a doubt the most vocally skilled of the cast, demonstrating insane vocal control that would belong on a West End stage. Fletcher delivers a pitch-perfect performance—she sings her heart out and you can tell that she means and feels every single word that she is singing. Her rapping was also the most impressive, never failing to enunciate a single word. It must also be said that Fletcher gave the most impressive performance all round, including her acting. Her version of Queen Elizabeth I is thoroughly modern and very sassy, her comedic timing is perfect and she achieves lots of laughter from the audience. Out of the four cast members she is definitely the most versatile and has the largest vocal range.
Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex (and Elizabeth’s cousin) is played by understudy Emily Phillips. Phillips gives a good vocal performance, her voice is quieter and softer but make no mistake—Phillips can still belt. Her voice is definitely better suited to hitting the higher notes and she performs some impressive vocal slides. Phillips struggles a little bit more when it comes to rapping, often failing to enunciate and cutting off her lines prematurely. Phillips’ biggest strength is undoubtedly her harmonising abilities, Phillips’ and Fletcher’s voices compliment each other wonderfully.
Olly Stanton plays Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the love pursuit of the two cousins. Stanton is unconvincing and lacklustre as Robert, his delivery was rather monotonous throughout the performance, leaving much to be desired for. Stanton plays Robert without much conviction, leaving it confusing as to why the two women are so enamoured with his character. Stanton is not the strongest vocalist and was at times off-key, which could have potentially fallen under the radar had he not been performing as the leading man opposite such a strong vocalist. Both are performers in their own right of course however the discrepancy in vocal abilities between the two leading actors was quite jarring at times.
Jacob Vellucci as History was the underdog of the show. What Vellucci lacks in vocal talent (a cheeky little shrug to the audience after a questionable vocal moment suggests that he knows this himself) he makes up for in comedic talent. His comedic timing is impeccable and he had the audience in stitches throughout the performance. Despite this, his character still feels poorly written. History is the only gay character in the show and a rather one-dimensional one at that. His character’s main purpose seems to be to perpetuate gay stereotypes such as sexual promiscuity, surely in 2022 we can do better than this?
The female costumes for this show were particularly interesting, as what can only be described as ‘Euphoria’ meets child beauty pageant meets Urban Outfitters. This is a bold aesthetic choice, meanwhile, Robert is dressed like an off-brand T-Bird and History resembles Meatloaf going to a funeral. It is not entirely clear what the vision or intention behind the costuming is, even if the female costumes weirdly do work somehow.
Lauren Williams’ choreography is questionable. The choreography, when comedic, seems to work, however it fails to achieve its desired effect when it wants to be taken seriously. theSpace on North Bridge is a small venue and some of the dance sequences were too ambitious given the amount of space the actors had to work with. At times the music also seemed too quiet, making the choreography seem even more awkward.
Despite this the actors still did a good job with the space that they had to work with, but with no set or props perhaps the lighting could have been utilised better in order to enhance some of the scenes. Technical director Charlotte Beech barely utilised lighting at all, and when it was used it often seemed frivolous. During ‘The Queen and I’ there were sporadic flashes of purple light that just seemed unnecessary and during Elizabeth’s big song the spotlight disappeared, leaving her singing in darkness to no dramatic effect.
In all honesty, I feel conflicted about this show. I can’t deny that I found it entertaining, but I felt that it lacked nuance and direction. The show brands itself as a ‘pop’ musical, however I would argue that it is far from it in terms of its musicality. It is pop in the sense that it makes a lot of pop culture references, however it is 2022 now and a lot of these references are outdated. These include references such as “sliding into DMs” and “Netflix and chill”—this show feels like it could do with a serious refresh. I can’t help but feel that this is a show that doesn’t know what it wants to be. Saying that, this production is not meant to be taken too seriously, although sometimes it feels like even the show itself forgets that.
‘The Single Lady’ is running from the 5th-13th of August in theSpace on North Bridge. Get your tickets from the link below:
Theatre Scotland 
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