The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh*****

Miss Jean Brodie is certainly in her prime in David Harrower’s new adaptation of Muriel Spark’s classic Edinburgh tale.

While Maggie Smith’s portrayal of the avant-garde Edinburgh teacher in the 1969 film is forever etched on our memories, in this National Theatre of Scotland/Lyceum production in association with Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Gayle Rankin makes the role her own and totally runs with it.

Her entrances are majestic, as befits a teacher looked up to by impressionable girls. Chloe Lamford’s simple set is staged like part of an amphitheatre, and she appears at the top of the stepped tiers, wide sleeves billowing, like an avenging angel with, most probably, the sturdy, non-nonsense headmistress Miss MacKay in her sights.

Maureen Beattie’s Miss MacKay is the perfect antidote to Jean Brodie’s modern ways of thinking – as in all her performances she has a solid presence and I’m always delighted when I see her name in a cast list.

I haven’t come across Gayle Rankin before but it doesn’t surprise me that this Scottish actor was nominated for a Tony for Cabaret on Broadway and is now an established star of New York’s theatre scene. As Brodie she’s playful, flirty, manipulative and feisty and is a joy to watch, whether it is with ‘her girls’ or with the two men in her life, Gordon Lowther the music teacher and Teddy Lloyd the art teacher. Some of the most explosive scenes are with Dyfan Dwyfor as Lloyd, a married man with umpteen children and an artistic temperament, while in the hands of Brian Ferguson, Lowther’s infatuation with Brodie is both moving and highly entertaining.

‘The girls’ really are the creme de la creme of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, all convincing as youngsters on the cusp of adulthood, wanting to discover life and being almost groomed by Brodie, though she would have said she only wanted the best for her girls. I’m not sure I liked their see-through uniforms when they transfer to senior school, however. Is it to suggest that we can see they are now growing into young women? Seeing their knickers did nothing for me!

It is said that Muriel Spark based the character on one of the teachers at her Edinburgh school in the 1930s. What an exciting time that must have been! And Spark certainly went on to lead a very colourful life. 

There is just one thing I criticise. Lloyd is supposed to have been painting the portrait of one of the girls who, when she sees it, says it looks like Miss Brodie. But when the canvas is thrown down the stage it’s blank. Surely someone should make an attempt at some sort of picture, or easier still, keep it hidden, so we’re kept guessing.

Image: Mihaela Bodlovic

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh until Oct 18

It then tours:

Oct 21-24: Citizens Theatre Glasgow

Oct 29-31: His Majesty’s Theatre Aberdeen

Nov 4-7: Pitlochry Festival Theatre

lyceum.org.uk