How to Win Against History review – forgotten toff’s stage dreams recovered

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‘Regrettably,” sings Henry Cecil Paget, “very little is known about my life.” There’s a reason for that: the fifth Marquess of Anglesey died at 29 having bankrupted his estate through his extravagance, including mounting plays that no one came to. His family subsequently attempted to destroy all evidence of the man who had shamed their proud line of landowners and empire builders.

Seiriol Davies first discovered hints of the forgotten, cross-dressing Edwardian aristocrat on childhood trips to a local National Trust property, and debuted this chamber musical about him on the Edinburgh fringe nine years ago. This new production, directed by Lisa Spirling, adds zhuzh to the songs, with an onstage four-piece band – directed by Dylan Townley’s Maestro – augmenting its original cast.

As Paget, Davies sparkles in a series of fabulous outfits beneath designer Hayley Grindle’s studded-collar proscenium arch (there are also shades of Faringdon House, the home of Paget’s fellow aesthete Lord Berners, who makes an appearance in the story). Both script and songs are crammed with wit as we pinball between classical harmonies, dance breaks and interactive gags with prompt cards.

A colonial-nod of a patter song, extolling “boots and feathers”, races us through Paget’s typically brutal boarding school upbringing and propels us towards his marriage of convenience with his cousin Lilian. She is played – along with all the other people in Paget’s life – by the indefatigable Matthew Blake, exhibiting great comic range as the ultimate “supporting actor” here.

We see him most as Mr Alexander Keith, a Victorian impresario in an enormous peach smoking jacket and the closest thing Paget has to a friend as they tour their terrible shows together. Supposedly Paget’s bad art is his way of trying to find human connection. The problem is that, beyond the wide-eyed delusions and the metaphors about diamonds living in his head, we never get enough of a sense of him to know what that means.

His loneliness may be touchingly real but the sentimental moments arrive like a demand for sympathy rather than something earned. Providing restitution from historical erasure is undoubtedly a worthy goal of art – but this show feels more like a message than an encounter.