The Ruling Class review: James McAvoy is magnetic in caustic class comedy

Originally penned in an era between the Profumo and Jellicoe political scandals, Peter Barnes's The Ruling Class is a caustic, uncompromising and deeply underrated character study. Anyone who may have feared that its notions of rigid hierarchy, polite expectation, jumped-up patriotism and reactionary politics would be outdated in the 21st century need not worry.

Trafalgar Transformed's artistic director Jamie Lloyd has reunited with James McAvoy for The Ruling Class following their successful reinterpretation of Macbeth at Trafalgar Studios in early 2013, and McAvoy's troubled Jack - who becomes the 14th Earl of Gurney after his father dies in an unusual accident - is a supremely skilled orator.

Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, the 14th Earl believes he is another kind of Lord entirely, returning to the family seat after seven years away proclaiming himself to be the resurrection and the life. Jack argues his case with the skill and duplicity - deliberate or otherwise - of a politician on the Radio 4 Today programme, most notably when he's trying to convince his family that his fictional wife actually exists in a bid to avoid being married off.

McAvoy clearly relishes the opportunity to work with a surreal script packed with puns, innuendo and intricate wordplay, and his silver-tongued delivery and performance oozes with the kind of easy charm that these days wins votes and election to the seat of power. He breaks the fourth wall at regular intervals with a glint in his eye, at one point quipping: "What a lovely crowd. God bless you."

Mental illness doesn't care for class or background or breeding, and for all of the mania so skilfully and physically portrayed by McAvoy, it's the quieter moments that leave the greatest impact.

When Jack laments that his greatest regret is his "many wasted years", it's sentiment that may well resonate with many who have experienced the black dog's indiscriminate grip first-hand. The 14th Earl's quiet crisis at the end of the first act as all his safety mechanisms collapse around him, his responsibilities as a husband and father really hit home, and the brutal, real world around him reveals itself, is utterly chilling. You can't help but feel for him in that moment.

Elsewhere Joshua McGuire - recently seen as John Ruskin in Mike Leigh's Mr Turner - is note-perfect as simpering, snivelling, self-serving Conservative politician Dinsdale, Jack's cousin, while Anthony O'Donnell (as communist Gurney family butler Daniel Tucker) and Elliot Levey (Jack's psychiatrist Dr Herder) also turn in magnificent performances.

But of a solid ensemble cast, it's Forbes Masson who leaves a lasting impact, switching seamlessly between multiple crucial roles. His McKyle - a self-proclaimed 'electric Messiah' - is more than a match for Jack at the height of his God complex, and the staging of their intense battle is utterly captivating.

The song and dance numbers are perfectly executed ('Varsity Drag' brings the house down, and McAvoy and Masson's rendition of the old Eton boating song is gloriously raucous and cheeky). Credit where credit's due to choreographer Darren Carnall and fight director Kate Waters, both of whom enable the cast to use their physicality to great effect.

The Ruling Class's themes are still relevant over 45 years later in an era of expenses scandals, phone-hacking, spin, austerity and renewed class warfare. Barnes's potshots at private healthcare, the church, the police and old boys' networks across the upper echelons of society endure in a new century where it feels increasingly clear that contrary to popular rhetoric, we may not all be in this together.

What's more, almost all the central characters are motivated to further their own interest at some point - whether it's Dinsdale's overt political posturing as he hopes for a by-election in his constituency, to Ron Cook's quietly conniving Sir Charles Gurney. Charles is the kind of chap who thinks nothing of marrying his mistress Grace (a steely Kathryn Drysdale) off to his half-brother, then to Jack after the 13th Earl's death throws a spanner in the works. Charles's aim? To get his claws into the Gurney estate via guardianship of a young heir. His gameplaying, and that of those around him, makes for absolutely fascinating theatre.

Any updates to Barnes's original script are few and far between, and the most telling is the good doctor Herder's musing that "political ignorance is not a symptom of psychosis... in fact, it might be considered a sign of mental health". As a general election looms ominously on the horizon, The Ruling Class is here to make you think long and hard about the world, and your place in it. It's a timely, timeless revival, and a fitting conclusion to Trafalgar Transformed's second season on Whitehall.

The Ruling Class plays at Trafalgar Studios until Saturday, April 11. Performances are on Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm, and Thursday and Saturday at 2.30pm. Tickets are priced from £15 - £52.50, with all seats £15 on Mondays.

Kate Goodacre

Kate (they/she) is a freelance writer, editor, digital editorial trainer and data technician who first joined Digital Spy as an overnight freelance sub-editor in January 2011, after studying a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Salford University while working part-time as a social researcher.
In July 2013, Kate joined the DS staff team as chief sub-editor and following six years as the site's managing editor, their role expanded to incorporate Hearst UK's entertainment portfolio (including Digital Spy and its sibling titles Best and Inside Soap) between late 2024 and early 2026.
  Kate has worked as a writer and editor since 2006, with bylines syndicated across the Hearst network and at organisations including Metro. They started their career as a TV production runner for the BBC and contributed to various music websites, blogs and zines while based in Manchester.
  During her time at DS, Kate has previously been a freelance sub-editor and chief sub-editor.
  Kate's team at Digital Spy were proudly nominated in the Best Subbing/Production Team category at the BSME Talent Awards 2022. Over the years, she has contributed to coverage of many, many Prime Days and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and was part of the team that launched the DS weekly TV newsletter in November 2019 – followed by the Top of the Shops e-commerce newsletter in May 2024.
   Kate's screen passions include Taskmaster (their biggest career regret remains turning down the opportunity to visit the house), nature documentaries, and live sport (up there with the greatest of all soap operas although if asked to choose, it's Corrie… every time).
   Her highlights while working at DS have included interviewing Stevie Nicks on the red carpet for her documentary In Your Dreams, sitting at a press roundtable with Formula 1 commentary icon Murray Walker, watching a life-sized LEGO car being driven around Silverstone, writing an album-by-album retrospective of Lady Gaga's genre-defying career for Living Legends, and raising awareness of receiving and understanding a late-in-life ADHD diagnosis through the lens of Bianca and Freddie's EastEnders storyline.
 Upon remembering to log off the internet, Kate enjoys live theatre, dance and comedy, appreciating nature, baking (badly), tending a recently-rented allotment (equally badly) and pampering one very spoiled rescue cat named Jolene.
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