Will Somers:Keeping your head. Most impressive creation since Blood on the Moon.

Photo: Courtesy of Gladstone theatre. Will Somers!

Long before the phrase became a cliché, jesters were speaking truth to power. As entertainers and critics, court jesters, or fools, held more sway than their station in the social hierarchy warranted, through medieval times, the Renaissance and beyond.

Even in this context, the King’s Fool Will Somers was remarkable among jesters for the length of his service — from 1525, when he was first introduced to King Henry VIII, until the monarch’s death in 1547 and on through the reigns of Henry’s son, Edward, and daughter, Mary. (He was rumoured to be the only man who could make Mary Tudor laugh). His last public performance was at the coronation of Mary’s sister, Elizabeth I, in 1558, two years before his death.

As presented by Pierre Brault in his newest one-man show, Will Somers is intelligent, funny, earthy, irreverent, yet caring and intensely loyal to his Tudor masters. Little wonder that the Brault version of Somers kept his head through a bloody period of history and religious conflict.

In Will Somers: Keeping Your Head! Brault plays several characters alongside the court jester. Each is clearly distinguished with a few words, a change of tone, a gesture, the clever use of a mirror that doubles as a tavern table and Brault’s considerable power as actor and storyteller.

With the guidance of director AL Connors, well supported by lighting and set designer Martin Conboy and sound designer Lewis Caunter, Brault delivers a compelling picture of an age and the man as the centre of his story.

Unquestionably, the story of Will Somers is Brault’s most impressive creation since Blood on the Moon — though it is virtually impossible to top the magical quality of that show in its original Arts Court location.

Will Somers: Keeping Your Head! continues at the Gladstone to April 2.

Will Somers: Keeping Your Head!

Written and performed by Pierre Brault

Director: AL Connors

Lighting and set: Martin Conboy

Sound: Lewis Caunter