From 1665 to 1666 bubonic plague raged through London, killing thousands and causing blind panic and mass hysteria.  

Borne by ships’ rats and their parasitic fleas, it usually spelled a horrifying, lingering death and a plague pit for a grave.

Naomi Wallace’s play hones in on the hysteria of the time and combines it with a powerful study of the class struggle between master and servant and their mutual fear and loathing.

Add repressed sexuality to the mix and you have a seething stew of torrid emotions.

The plot revolves around an upper-class merchant William Snelgrave (Dan Maxwell) and his wife Darcy (Kate Abraham) who are coming to the end of their 28-day quarantine when a sailor and an all-knowing young girl (Victoria Bavister) burst into their home.

This disaster is spotted by gloating plague guard Kabe (Chris Donnelly) who, prowling around like a wolf eying his caged prey, slaps another month’s confinement on the household.

Bunce the sailor (Ian Gain) is a salt-of-the-earth sea dog who is at the opposite end of the social spectrum to the arrogant authoritarian Snelgrave.

But role reversal is crudely signposted when the merchant suggests he wear his fine gentleman’s shoes and sure enough by the play’s end he is sporting the full silk-and-lace monty.

The wife is also possessed by Bunce in a scene of fraught fumbling and groping in which echoes of Joe Losey’s the Servant or even Jean Genet’s The Maids abound.

Also lurking in the inspirational alleyways is Aids – and the LA riots get a look in too.

Wallace has been called a Marxist playwright and while she is certainly political, the intensity of the piece could have been leavened by a little more humour.

But the acting is outstanding, as is the imaginative use of Corinne Hockley and Davy McGuire’s brilliant installations.

Michael Stewart

Morning Star