The Herbal Bed

by Peter Whelan

seen at the RoseTheatre, Kingston upon Thames, on 28 April 2016

This play, subtitled The secret life of Shakespeare's daughter, was written in 1996 and originally produced by the RSC. It sees its first major revival here, directed by James Dacre and featuring Emma Lowndes as Susannah Hall, Jonathan Guy Lewis as John Hall, Philip Correia as Rafe Smith, and Matt Whitchurch as Jack Lane, with Patrick Driver as the Bishop of Worcester, Charlotte Wakefield as Hester Fletcher and Michael Mears as Barnaby Goche the Vicar-General of the diocese of Worcester.

The play derives from the records in the Worcestoer consistory court of a defamation case brought by Susannah Hall (Shakespeare's daughter) against Jack Lane, who had publicly alleged that she had illicit dealings with Rafe Smith. Here, Susannah and Rafe are indeed passionately attracted to one another, but no adultery takes place. Jack's allegations are founded on supposition, jealousy and drunkenness. Although he has not actually seen the pair together, it is known by the Hall's servant Hester that Rafe left the garden precipitously one night as she was coming to warn Susannah of Lane's approach.

Consequently, when John Hall declares that the only way to clear Susannah's name is to go to the consistory court, the situation is more fraught than he realises; and the Vicar General wishes to exert the court's authority more rigorously than the plaintiffs bargained for. As Jack fails to appear at the court, he is excommunicated (barred from church communion for a period, but not to be shunned as a heretic), but the Vicar General still questions the plaintiffs in detail about Jack's allegations. All turns on Hester's testimony, but she protects the family.

There are fascinating social and personal resonances to this play. Susannah, intelligent, articulate, but vulnerable as a woman, feels she has not done wrong even though she knows at one level that having only respect for her husband but love for Rafe is a dangerous and difficult position. Rafe is tormented; Doctor Hall is half aware of the situation but (as Susannah claims) he would rather not know in detail. Jack, uncomplicatedly sensual but foolish, and perhaps feeling that his gentry status will protect him from serious consequences, is unthinkingly vindictive and then full of maudlin self-pity and remorse. His final appearance as almost a vagabond is seriously shocking, a sobering reminder that exclusion from church services carried an appalling weight of social censure at the time.

The production was fluid, with an excellent set revealing the herbal garden which is still one of the chief features of John Hall's house in Stratford upon Avon (the site is currently being restored). There was perhaps not quite the spark between Rafe and Susannah that is required to make their passion for each other believable, but gradually the stultifying proprieties of small-town life, and the general religious tensions of the period (with the Puritan element in the church asserting its power in the face of a more laissez-faire traditional approach) build an atmosphere of real threat. The Vicar General's interrogations are truly scary, and one feels that men of his type represent the most dangerous sort of fanaticism; the similarities to the almost contemporaneous Salem witch trials in Massachusetts are obvious.

In the background to the whole sorry story is William Shakespeare himself, never seen but often referred to as Susannah is deeply worried about his health. It is her preparation of some medicine for him which indvertently fuels Jack Lane's suspicions, as he recognises the ingredients as part of a treatment for venereal disease (which he then assumes Susannah has contracted). Movingly, at the end of the play, the ailing playwright is being conveyed to his daughter's residence. It was there that he died not long after.

The play is fascinating because it so successfully tells a story that has so many social and intellectual ramifications, as people seek to justify themselves, to live together in harmony yet under a strict and perhaps restrictive moral code, and to preserve their reputations. Susannah is prepared to prevaricate mainly in order to ensure that no scandal attaches to her husband, so that he may go on curing the sick - she sees this as more important than anything. It is a brave stand, that she only just manages to maintain when those around her appeal to the law - often an inflexible and unfeeling tool to deal with personal animosities and misunderstandings.