Calling all StageSiders, welcome back to another review here at StageSideUK. This time around, we are talking about a production of By Royal Appointment at Leeds Grand Theatre seen on Tuesday 24th June, 2025!
Disclaimer: I was gifted two free press tickets in exchange for an honest review of the show. All images featured were taken by Nobby Clark.
Feel free to checkout this interview by David Benedict all about By Royal Appointment!
About the Play
By Royal Appointment is a new play featuring our late Queen and the people around her that literally fashioned her every look: the Dresser, the Designer, and the Milliner. As the most recognised woman in the world, ensuring her appearance was up to scratch for every occasion was one of the most important jobs, but often overlooked by the outside world. This play gives it’s audience a deep dive in to some of her famous looks at specific moments in history. Being uninterested in fashion herself, Queen Elizabeth II’s team of three would curate the image she presented to the world, no matter what was going on.
Starring national treasure Anne Reid as The Queen, Caroline Quentin as The Dresser, James Dreyfus as The Milliner and James Wilby as The Designer. The play is written by the creator of ITV’s hit series Victoria, Daisy Goodwin, and directed by former Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe, Dominic Dromgoole.
There is a clear love and devotion poured into this play from all involved to celebrate and honour the roles being portrayed.
By Royal Appointment Stage Design
The stage design featured a simple, never-changing, room set as though picked up out of one of the Queen’s abodes. Two large curtained entryways expressed the grandeur of the palace with a wooden dressing table and delicate furniture and a door the apparently led to the crown jewels, or at least the Queen’s favourites.
For what the play was, keeping the set quite simple seem to fit the narrative. Each section was hosted in the same place with little to no prop changes, giving focus to the characters and the costume being displayed. A projected backdrop of design sketches, swatches, or photographs of the real thing aided the vision of Queen Lizzy’s elegant fashion.
All in all, it could work well. From a designer’s perspective, I felt the set was either a little too basic or not very well thought out. I think I would have appreciated more grandeur, more elegance, more royal. Alternatively, go the other way, strip it back further, more stylised, and focus even more on the fashion. Either way, it looked a little lost on such a big stage and instead would have suited a studio space with audience on the same or similar level. Giving a more intimate feeling to the play would have done much more justice.
Costumes again, remained simple with very little change. None of the famous outfits were properly tried on which I would have liked to see. I’m not sure if or what has been on in London, as news doesn’t travel up north very often, but I imagine properly styling the outfit on Anne Reid as the Queen would have been interesting to see and to give context, followed by an exhibition of the real thing on display. A real feature for the moments in history.
By Royal Appointment Performance & Cast
Overall, I think the cast did a good job. It was mostly lines which were able to tell the story well. They all had their own significant moments to shine. Firstly, Anne Reid as the Queen was great casting. I felt she nailed the mannerisms and speech based on what I know of Queen Elizabeth. Caroline Quentin played the classic northern working-class lass well, really gave the impression that she was the boss and yet remained to complement the Queen. James Dreyfus played the slightly stern ex-military officer with a love for fashion, exuberating queerness without the stereotype in contrast to James Wilby who took on the more comedically camp character that though done well, was much more of a stereotype. I know nothing of the original people so can’t comment on the likeliness (though I suppose that’s why a play like this is interesting to watch).
This main cast was supported by The Curator, played by Gráinne Dromgoole who I must admit didn’t feel right for the role. This character was there to be the through line from beginning to end, the host as such, but the melancholic delivery of most of the lines felt repetitive, especially when interacting with other characters. The constant moving around stage whilst giving the yearly facts did annoy me too. Sometimes theatre needs to learn the power of standing still. I could see this role as being quite prominent, like the narrator in Joseph, but there needed to be more presence, maybe something like a TV show host, or maybe not that far. If the idea is that we are being shown around this fictional exhibition, I want to be fully guided.
Overall Rating of By Royal Appointment
The play wasn’t bad, I enjoyed aspects of it, and I could see the potential but overall I don’t quite think it stuck the landing. In terms of a star rating, I would give it 3 stars – very middle of the ground, I expect some people would really enjoy it, the concept was quite interesting and the cast generally did well with what they had.
The staging felt quite lost, any music that came on felt was kind of off putting given the silence throughout the scenes, and the projections at the back were difficult to fully see, even as I was sat in the stalls. Perhaps, though it’s a beautiful place, the larger proscenium of Leeds Grand wasn’t the right place for it. I’d be interested to see the play directed in a completely different way, perhaps in a small studio space, or even better, in a literal exhibition.
At times, there were little hiccups with lines overrunning each other but not anything that caused a massive problem. I felt that things like this were often down to a pacing issue. Though the play had some funny moments, and some more hard-hitting moments, it had the tendency to move on too quickly to speed through the years without letting the audience really sink their teeth into the character storytelling.
Overall, worth a watch and I’m glad I got to see it. It’s a really interesting snippet of history that you really don’t hear a lot about and I think makes the modern day monarchy much more interesting, touching on a more creative side of royalty. However, some things didn’t quite hit. As a new play, I look forward to this script being taken in different way in the future. I wonder what other directors might be able to do with it!
Accessibility
The general triggers for this play are some adult themes, and that it touches on some sensitive topics throughout history, from wars to AIDs. There were no noticeable other elements that stood out as triggers. Sound and lighting were mostly the same all the way through without any sudden changes.
Value for money
Ticket prices at the Leeds Grand Theatre for this show range between £26-£55 which is not too bad for a touring production most times, however, given the static stage design, and reduced cast, I think I’d be looking for tickets on that cheaper end.
Leeds Grand do have some good offers on though to help you get a better deal. For example, if you book any two of their summer dramas (By Royal Appointment, and The Girl On The Train) you can get 20% off tickets to both shows. These offers work across all price ranges too!
Tickets and more information about the show are available here.
Have your say!
Have you seen By Royal Appointment? Let me know in the comments and let’s get a discussion going.
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Featured images have been referenced and are used in line with fair usage, in the copyright act.
Jonathan Harper