By Royal Appointment

Queen Elizabeth II was one of the most widely viewed figures in modern history, yet the people responsible for constructing her iconic public image have largely remained in the shadows. By Royal Appointment, the debut play from Daisy Goodwin, seeks to bring those people into the light. Currently playing at Cambridge's Arts Theatre, the production takes the audience behind the scenes of the royal wardrobe, exploring the relationships between the Queen, her Dresser, her Designer and her Milliner across the decades of her reign.

The production is built around a clever framing device, with Laura Matthew's Curator guiding the audience through the Queen's archive and the memories contained within it. Finlay handles the role with stellar delivery, outlining the year timestamps that punctuate the story with a real lightness of touch. Each timestamp does more than simply tell the audience where they are in the timeline. Finlay weaves in humour, pop culture references and major events of the time, grounding the story in its historical context. Given that the central story is relatively intimate in scale, this framing device is crucial to keeping a narrative element and it works beautifully.

At the heart of the production is Jane Asher's take on Queen Elizabeth II, a performance that brings the necessary regal presence whilst still allowing the character to feel genuinely human. The charming moments and subtle humour sit naturally alongside the more formal aspects of the role. Asher is particularly strong during the more difficult periods of the reign. The scenes surrounding 'The Troubles' give her the opportunity to show real emotion, providing an important contrast between the carefully constructed public image and the person beneath it. The production does not shy away from the harder chapters, placing jubilees and royal celebrations alongside strained family dynamics and the AIDS crisis, with Asher navigating these tonal shifts with real skill.

Equally impressive is Laura Main as the Dresser, the emotional centre of the production. Much of Main's most powerful work is done quietly, through reactions and background moments that communicate the depth of her loyalty and admiration to the Queen, at times even without the need for dialogue. Those small details accumulate beautifully as the relationship between the two women develops over the decades. Main is given her moment to step forward fully towards the end of the play, with a final speech that feels entirely deserved and provides the production with its most emotionally resonant beat, properly illuminating a character whose sacrifices have not always been recognised within real accounts of the Queen's life.