The play Sidney Fox’s Crime, running at Above The Stag, explores these events with Sidney (played by Sebastian Calver) preparing his defence case with barrister James D Cassels (Mark Curry). Playwright Glenn Chandler marshals an impressive amount of historical research into a well-paced script that resists the temptation to become a live action checklist of the true-crime case.
Flesh is put on the bone of the recollections as Sidney switches smoothly from the prison cell to flashback scenes with his mother, Rosaline Fox (Amanda Bailey). Humour and warmth infuse their relationship: Rosaline indulging her son as a loveable rascal while Sidney poetically describes his vivacious (and unconventional) mother as “a glowing ember”. Their us-against-the-world inter-dependence brings heart to the drama and a strong counterpoint to the case that is assembled against Sidney.
This production of Sydney Fox’s Crime is a strongly-cast three-hander. Sebastian Calver is a perfect lead, balancing the title character’s good looks, charisma and easy charm with a petulance and a reckless sense of entitlement that’s never too far from the surface. He conveys a guileless lust for life albeit one with an askew moral compass. It’s an energetic performances that captures how people would have fallen under Fox’s spell but also reflects a callous streak borne out of his solipsism. Amanda Bailey offers a sympathetic portrayal of Rosaline Fox as a spirited, naïve, fun-loving, irresponsible parent. She skillfully contrasts the ebullient survivor that is her younger self in the Roaring Twenties to the pathos of her ailing older self following a stay in the workshop. It’s a well-pitched and convincing journey of decline. And completing the cast, Mark Curry is something of a revelation as Sidney’s defence barrister who has to convince his client that the side the jury need to see is the Sidney Fox who loved his mother. He bring suitable gravitas to the role with a commanding stage presence. He imbues Cassels with a paternal warmth but also an impressive legal showmanship when he directly addresses the audience as the jury.