IMAGINE a monarch, self-centred and ego-led, treating his wife coldly once she has produced the heir, flirting openly with his lover and enjoying his status yet claiming to yearn for a quiet life.
 
That’s categorically no reference to a future king of this realm today but to Edward II, whose tragic tale is told here in a fine ensemble production of Christopher Marlowe’s play. It has engaging performances from Tom Stuart as the king and Beru Tessema as his beloved Piers Gaveston, the latter displaying a sweetness that suggests a profound love.

Arriving at court — where he is loathed by all but Edward — Gaveston is saddled with some of Marlowe’s soppiest lines. He would have swum from France and “like Leander, gasped upon the sand, so thou wouldst smile and take me in thy arms.”

That classical reference does have the effect of setting up the new monarch as Hero, the mythical Greek girly-girl who spent much of her time twisting her petticoat and pining for her love.
 
Yet it’s hard not to pity this Edward, who has no hope of following in the bellicose footsteps of his father, the intimidating Longshanks. He’s most unwarlike and Gaveston’s vision of the court he’ll help create, with music and theatre and dance, seems very appealing.
 
The barons, however, are outraged, chief among them Mortimer Senior, played with a splendid fury by the accomplished Annette Badland. Hers is not the only gender-blind role — Polly Frame excels as the king’s brother the Earl of Kent, who transfers allegiance from the plotters to the king and “makes the final sacrifice,” as military commentators would have it, while Sanchia McCormack, playing both Warwick and Sir John of Hainault, is steely and ruthless.
 
Yet there’s something lacking in the play. It’s not the edited text, as director Nick Bagnell’s cuts and conflations seem sensible — the second half is otherwise notoriously overloaded with characters.

There are key plot points which seem skimmed over — what is it that turns the scorned Queen Isabella (Katie West) against her consort? Perhaps it is love for Young Mortimer (Jonathan Livingstone), yet there’s precious little passion in their love scenes, perhaps suggesting an arrangement rather than a romance.
 
The one to watch in this production is Colin Ray, who does a deft comic turn as the young Spenser, the king’s new favourite, who’s a quasi-poetic Artful Dodger full of juvenile cheek. Doubling up as the teenage Prince Edward, in the wake of the king’s horrific murder he is bemused to be crowned.

His grief and fury is pitiful and his thirst for revenge a signifier of the man he will become. Peace and love is over. War is back, with a vengeance.

Runs until April 20, box office: shakespearesglobe.com