QUEEN OF HEARTS

Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

As a character in Queen of Hearts says: "Death raises questions", and none more so than the death of the Princess of Wales. Questions such as how so many people could readily accept the volte-face from 'pampered parasite with Arab boyfriend' to 'saint who died in the arms of her lover', and why nobody thought to remove the wrapping from their floral tributes. But most of all, the question of why Diana played such a dominant role in so many people's lives. It is this final question which Christine Watkins' new play seeks to explore.

Having started the play before the Princess's death, Ms Watkins had a head start on the rest of the world in analysing what is increasingly being labelled 'the Diana phenomenon'. Unfortunately the Paris crash and subsequent global hysteria opened the floodgates, and out poured a torrent of sociologists, media studies whizzs and similar proponents of non-empirical mumbo-jumbo. With Queen of Hearts, the Made in Wales theatre company sets out to prove that a single piece of theatre is worth more than any number of pseudo-scientific tracts and seminars.

Although it has already been the subject of considerable condemnation from people who haven't seen it for "cashing in", the play does not deal with the Princess of Wales herself at all. Instead, it is the story of Sylvia, a Diana lookalike (Rose Wadham), and Raye, a transvestite Diana worshipper (Roland Powell), whose lives were both torn apart on 31 August 1997. The other characters are a retired prostitute who is Raye's roommate, and a photographer who witnessed (and photographed) Diana's moment of death.

The flaw in the play is signposted by the labels 'transvestite' and 'retired prostitute'. Put bluntly, the play suffers from trying to be too fashionable. Of course no self-respecting modern post-Trainspotting, post-Shopping and Fucking playwright would dream of not including several members of Britain's twilight culture to add some contemporary grit. Yet this is a story which could be about anyone whose lives link through a modern icon. The addition of the Soho factor is simply unnecessary, and distracts from the exploration of the role which Diana played in the characters' lives and by extension in the lives of many thousands of others. The intriguing and inventive juxtaposition of Diana's multifarious influences is clouded by need to make Queen of Hearts fit in with the current wave of theatre, rather than striking out on its own voyage of discovery.

Apart from the excesses of trendiness, however, the play is an interesting study into identity and need, as Sylvia seeks to fill the void of her abruptly terminated career by becoming a Di-replacement and Raye fills his life with substitutes for the mother who abandoned him. Rose Wadham's performance is remarkable, and clearly reflects many hours of scrupulous research. The mannerisms, speech, nervous habits and entire demeanour are startlingly accurate. It is unlikely that any Diana lookalike has ever been quite so 'alike', and even at those times when she does not resemble Princess Diana, Ms Wadham has a remarkable ability to look like Princess Diana not looking like herself. Anyone who had even the briefest and most fleeting encounter with the Princess will find her presence on stage eerily disconcerting - a vital factor in adding verisimilitude to the reactions of the other characters. The fact that she maintains the Diana-isms in her 'off-duty' moments says more about the complicated identity crisis which lookalikes must suffer than anything offered by the script. Roland Powell's performance as Raye is touching and funny, whilst never slipping into either pitiful whinging or high camp.

Christine Watkins has been offered a remarkable opportunity to explore the effect of the modern icon on the lives of everyman and everywoman. Whilst she rises tantalisingly to the challenge, the surfeit of late Nineties theatre style obscures any conclusions a spectator might seek to draw. Nevertheless, Rose Wadham's performance - or perhaps the word should be 're-enactment' - makes Queen of Hearts an utterly unique theatrical experience.

TOBY O'CONNOR MORSE

Queen of Hearts runs until 6 June. Box office: (01222) 230451