Fans of those sword-and-sandal epics that made bodybuilders like Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott action-movie stars in the late-1950s and early-1960s won’t want to miss Christopher Williams Johnson’s Battlesong of Boudica, now thrilling audiences with Jen Albert’s almost nonstop fight choreography at Hollywood’s Hudson Backstage Theatre.

The hero this time round is not, however, a sinewed male hunk nor is Boudica a mythical macho muscleman like Hercules or Goliath.

Instead, writer-director Johnson and leading lady Albert have chosen to focus on the real-life Wonder Woman who made 1st-century history by leading the Iceni people (of what is now the county of Norfolk in the east of Great Britain) in a hard-fought uprising against the conquering armies of Rome.

Her name was Boudica, and Johnson’s play lets us know from the get-go that what we’re about to witness will be like nothing we’ve seen before on an intimate L.A. stage as Albert choreographs battle after battle fought to the death within inches of audience members seated in the front row (who’ve been warned to keep their feet firmly inside the ride).

With their lands ever in danger of attack, it’s perhaps no wonder that King’s Consort Boudica has been giving daughters Kerma (Lucy Schmidt) and Brenda (Alegra Rodriguez Shivers) martial arts training since their girlhood, skills demonstrated in the play’s rousing opening sister-against-sister practice bout.

Marital conflict arises when Boudica’s husband, Iceni War Chief Prasutagus (Daniel Adomian), discovers that his wife has given Roman Governor-General Paulinus (Christopher Neiman) permission to march his troops across Icemi lands as he begins his latest campaign, something she had every right to do while Prasutagus was away hunting for game.

Politically astute as Boudica’s decision may be, however, it all comes to naught when Paulinus and Tribune Agricola (Colin A Borden) show up demanding that Prasutagus furnish men and arms to accompany their spring campaign.

It matters not that Boudica supports honoring their treaty obligations, her husband remains staunchly opposed, opting instead to do battle against the Druids alongside his fellow Iceni soldiers.

I won’t reveal what happens next except to say that from this point on Boudica finds herself in charge, and the stage combat (and animal and human sacrifices) we’ve seen so far are only the start of ninety minutes of almost nonstop action.

Dialog may come across stilted to modern ears (“There is none living that can keep you safe. Not man, nor woman nor any loyal beast.”), but there’s nothing even a bit stiff about Albert’s injury-defying fight choreography, executed to thrilling effect by most of the abovementioned actors and many of the production’s supporting players in a cast ably (and athletically) completed by Tom Block (Praefect), Payton Cella (Legionaire), Sara Gorsky (Medbh), Brad C. Light (Decianus), Tristan Rewald (Cerialis), Jack TenBarge (Caturix), Jesse James Thomas (Camulos), Frank Tirimacco (Legionaire), and Dan Wingard (Archdruid), accompanied blow-by-blow and sword-thrust-by-sword-thrust by the pulsating drumbeats of percussionist Chlóe Madriaga.

There’s even a terrifically spooky puppetry sequence featuring a gigantic Goddess of War Andraste (voiced by Dawn Alden) to do any Hollywood movie monster proud, and some exotic dance sequences choreographed by Kate Coleman.

And though the Hudson Backstage is left mostly bare against a plain black upstage wall, costume designer Linda Muggeridge and sound designer Ryan Beveridge each merit high marks, the former for her exotic ancientwear and the latter for his action-enhancing original music.

Battlesong of Boudica is produced for The School of Night by Albert. The producers warn audiences of “bloody violence, whipping, suicide, depictions of animal sacrifice and verbal description of sexual assault.” Michelle Elizabeth Vasquez is stage manager. Susan Gordon is publicist.

Movies like 1959’s Hercules Unchained, 1960’s Revenge of the Barbarians, and 1961’s Duel of the Titans had audiences oohing and aahing over the exploits of Ancient Roman heroes supported by the proverbial cast of thousands.

 With its feminist spin on these action-adventure classics, the teeny-tiniest fraction of their budgets, a mere fifteen players on stage, and tickets going for about what you’d pay to see a movie these days, Battlesong of Boudica gives L.A. theater audiences more than their money’s worth of excitement and thrills.

The Hudson Backstage, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles.
www.schoolofnight.org

–Steven Stanley
April 9, 2023
Photos: Jessica Sherman

Tags: Boudica, Christopher William Johnson, Hudson Backstage, Los Angeles Theater Review, School Of Night