Review: DIANA: THE UNTOLD AND UNTRUE STORY, The Pleasance Theatre

According to firefighter Xavier Gourmelon, Princess Diana's final words were "My God, what has happened?" If she survived her fatal accident in a Paris tunnel, she would no doubt be looking at all the books, films and TV shows about her and perhaps uttering the same words.

The quarter-century anniversary has brought many retrospective views on the woman Tony Blair immortally dubbed "The People's Princess". The media frenzy over her tortured love life, her charity efforts and her public persona meant she bestrode more column inches than Admiral Nelson. Many have attempted to present her story on stage and screen with varying levels of verisimilitude but Linus Karp has a very particular take on this famed figure.

Peering through a queer lens with cabaret stylings, Karp brings Diana's herstory to life through puppets, video and some very spot-on outfits. Audience members also play an important role: at one point or another, they are inveigled to become the princess' parents, gay fans, a landmine, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a corgi or her nanny. This is an endearing feature which just keeps on giving the more Karp uses it.

Karp's take on Queen Elizabeth I, Prince Charles and Camilla are smart, funny and creative. Her Maj is seen on screen, portrayed by Geri Allen as a scheming mother-in-law. Charles is a cardboard cut-out which keeps on falling over while Camilla is a demon-voiced sex-crazed flailing doll waved around by co-director and stage director Joseph Martin.

In some ways, this has the feel of a production where every expense has been spared but this doesn't take away from Karp's central performance as la Spencer. The way he cocks his head and gives us the trademark doe-eyed look is simply marvellous. He takes constant potshots at Charles, bringing up the then Prince of Wales' joking desire to be Camilla's "Tampax" and turning his infamous "whatever love means" quote into a running gag and gives the Queen a central role in Diana's divorce and death: there's a wonderfully knowing scene where the now-late-monarch takes over from the archbishop at Charles' first wedding and pronounces her son and Diana united "until Camilla or a car crash do they part".

Karp misses a few open goals. One would have thought that the largely absent Prince Phillip - one of the alleged orchestrators of Diana's death -and the tale of Diana, Freddie Mercury and Kenny Everett's jaunt to an iconic South London gay bar would be rich pickings in this show. Instead, in the third act, Karp aims for an & Juliet-style flirtation with history and wonders what would have happened had "the Queen of hearts" survived Paris to live to today. What would she be up to and what would God have to say all about this?

To borrow a gag from satirist Tom Lehrer, some shows are very much like sewers: what you get out of them depends on what you put into them. Throw yourself head first into this one and you too may be uttering by the end "My God, what has happened?"

Diana: The Untold And Untrue Story continues on tour.

Photo Credit: Dave Bird

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