Film Review – 1599 A True Story Of Elizabethan Court

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A long local history movie combining dramatized re-enactment, interviews with historians and musicians and a connecting narration provided by Christopher Ecclestone. Salford’s historic Ordsall Hall is a genuine Tudor manor house preserved in the heart of urban and industrial development. Its owners, the Radclyffes and later, the Chethams, had a strong role in the history of 16th and 17th century Manchester, Salford and general Lancashire. The film focuses on brother and sister, Margaret and Alexander Radclyffe. Both were close to the court of Queen Elizabeth The First. Margaret was a lady in waiting, while Alexander was a soldier, serving the Duke Of Essex in many European campaigns. The Radclyffes were secretly Catholic, in a protestant culture and they were also friends with occultist scholar Dr John Dee, who worked at the Cathedral church. The Radclyffes may well have met Shakespeare too, and Margaret has been suggested as an inspiration for the Bard’s Dark Lady sonnets, love poems not dedicated to his wife. The twin Radclyffes may also have been the inspiration for the separated twins story-line in Shakespeare’s A Comedy Of Errors. The film has the dramatized dialogue presented in authentic Elizabethan style English, with characters reacting to events of the day much as people would in the time. When Alexander gives a very graphic description of a public execution he saw, his sister is very upset by it both for the gore and knowing the execution victim seen boiled in oil was so doomed for his Catholicism. The soundtrack uses authentic Elizabethan madrigals and lute music composed by John Dowland, and the period music is discussed by an expert on the subject along with an envious Peter Hook, the bassist from Manchester’s Joy Division band. The Radclyffe story had a tragic end as the 16th century itself drew to a close, when Alexander went to fight against the Irish and died. His sister was so inconsolable that she refused to eat again and died broken hearted. Their estates were taken by the Parliament-supporting Chethams in the later Civil war years. The film draws on experts in Elizabethan drama, music, military history, etc., and the performances by an entirely voluntary cast are quite beautiful. An extraordinary film experience, especially for people from Manchester and Salford. A big thank you to Three Minute Theatre for organizing this premiere event as part of The Manchester History Festival. Arthur Chappell