30 January – 15 March
Who is going to be the new 007? And when will the next instalment in the James Bond franchise appear? Unless you’re Barbara Broccoli, and depending on your mood, these questions will either strike you as burning cultural issues or as mildly interesting topics.
Not unnaturally author Jordan Waller goes for the first option in A Role to Die For, premiering at the Barn, Cirencester. As one of his characters says, in connection with Bond, ‘the decisions we make here matter.’ The action takes place in a world just paralleling our own, one where Deborah – not Barbara! – has inherited the mantle of the Bond film franchise from her father. The responsibility, which she shares with family member Malcolm, is a prestigious legacy and one which she is determined to pass on to her son Quinn, a gay vegetarian who sports an ‘Eat the Rich’ t-shirt.
They have a bright star lined up, presumably taking over from Daniel Craig, and the contracts are signed with a fanfare announcement planned for the next day. Then it emerges that the bright star has said/done something inappropriate with young girls. Cue catastrophe and a frantic search for a new Bond.
The plethora of books, features and articles about the Bond film world shows that there’s a real public appetite for anything to do with 007 on screen, and by lucky chance Waller and director Derek Bond (of course) have caught a moment when uncertainties about the franchise, now more than sixty years old, are very much in the air.
The principal question is how a 1960s dinosaur like Bond can adapt to a new century which, on the surface, pays tribute to quite different values. These values are embodied in young Quinn (Harry Goodson-Bevan) and to an extent in ballsy Deborah (Janie Dee). As a woman operating in a world of testosterone-fuelled attitudes, quips and gadgets, she is always aware of the requirement to outmanoeuvre and outswear the men around her, particularly Malcolm (Philip Bretherton) with his more traditional approach.
A female Bond? A Black Bond? A gay Bond? Some of this seems possible as part-time waiter Theo (Kit Esuruoso) auditions and makes a more than plausible stab at the most famous spy in history.
The cast attack their parts with zest and the evening speeds along with the noise and energy of a car chase. There’s plenty of nerdish Bond trivia and some good lines. (My favourite exchange: ‘Do you need a doctor?’ ‘Doctor? No.’) I’m not sure that A Role to Die For can quite bear the weight being put on it of interrogating changing cultural attitudes and generational tensions but altogether it’s a diverting jeu d’esprit as well as a slightly eccentric addition to the realms of Bondiana.
★★★☆☆ Philip Gooden 13 February 2025
Photo credit: Alex Tabrizi
