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Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings

Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings

Poole Lighthouse
Thursday 23rd November 2017

Jon-Boden-The-Remnant-Kings-Large-2017-1s-940x460

LINE-UP:
Jon Boden – lead vocal, violin, guitar, melodeon, concertina
Sam Sweeney – drums,  fiddle, concertina, vocal
Paul Sartin – oboe, fiddle, cor anglais, concertina, vocal
Rob Harbron – concertina, fiddle, guitar, vocal
Ben Nicholls –  bass guitar, double bass, concertina
Richard Warren – lead guitar
+
strings (I think one may be different)
Kiki Chen – violin
Helen Bell – viola
Lucy Revis – cello
brass:
Toni Durrant- euphonium
Sam Fisher- Flugelhorn

Stage set before the show: Poole Lighthouse

SET LIST:

From Afterglow album *
From Songs From The Floodplain album

Rosin The Bow
The Rose In June
Going Down To The Wasteland
Moths In The Gas Light *
Afterglow *
Bee Sting *
Wrong Side of Town *
Fires of Midnight *

interval

All The Stars Are Coming Out Tonight *
Dancing In The Ruin *
I Want To Dance With Somebody  (Whitney Houston)- Jon Boden solo
Burning Streets *
Yellow Lights *
Aubade *
Roll The Woodpile Down (Jon Boden & The Remnant Strings)
Beating The Bounds
Leviathan / Tombola
encore
Hounds of Love (Kate Bush)
All Hang Down

Some assumed that Jon Boden had decided to go solo because Bellowhead was too large a band (13) to be viable on the road. Not so … the Remnant Kings are about the same size (11) once augmented with strings and brass. They were formed in 2009, and then hibernated in the shadow of Bellowhead. Those who bought Painted Lady (2006) and Songs From The Floodplain (2009) had guessed the solo move was because he wanted to develop as a songwriter, rather than (or as well as) as an interpreter of folk songs. The new album Afterglow reinforces this, and continues the post-apolyptic theme of the earlier album. In Bellowhead style, the latest album dominates the show.

These people play together in various line-ups. Sam Sweeney & Paul Sartin of the Remnant Kings were in Bellowhead.  Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron and Ben Nicholls are in both Fay Hield’s Hurricane Party as well as in The Full English. Paul Sartin is also in The Transports tour.

This is a bold venture indeed. The show is based around the Afterglow album, and they play the lot in chronological order too, interspersed with the (virtually unrecognisable) solo cover of I Want To Dance With Somebody which fits into the theme anyway. Jon Boden uses narration to explain and link the songs.  It’s boy seeks girl in a post-industrial society. Oil has run out (they still have barrels of tar though). It’s a celebration amid the ruins of the city, “Bonfire night or Diwali.”  Hmm. The Hindu Festival of Light. Decide which. You don’t have to be multi-cultural in everything!  Anyway, the boy is seeking the girl he met a year earlier at the same carnival. Towards the end he said:

It’s quite a big ask to play a whole album like this … but it only works like this.

And it is ambitious. I’ve had the album for a couple of weeks, and listened right through at least half a dozen times. Some of it has massive immediate melodic appeal, while others, like the closing two songs, are very different indeed. Undefinable as rock or folk. It’s a major undertaking, including set design and lighting (he thanked the same person who did lights tonight for both). It’s all based around Jon Boden’s concept, and sadly the hall was only half full, if that … it is a very large hall, but Bellowhead would have packed it with ease by their final tour. The solo focus was always there, so it’s only Jon Boden signing CDs (and tea towels) in the thirty minute interval, whereas other Bellowhead members used to sign too. I guess it’s his record. He worked his socks off at the signing. I bought the De Luxe edition of the CD and had it signed. I hadn’t known of its existence when I bought the original It has an extra CD of solo versions of the songs, well worth an extra £2.

Wisely he started with a few non-album tracks. Rosin the Bow (or Rosin The /Le Beau on The Basement Tapes) is a cracking lively folk classic which most fans would know.

The Rose In June (I think), iPhone, lo-res

They followed up with The Rose in June which Jon described as a religious song. He attributes it to Lou Killen, and he had sung it unaccompanied on his massive 365 song A Folk Song A Day project (downloadable only), for 30th June. It’s a long song, greatly enriched by the augmented Remnant Kings, and the string section of violin, viola and cello was already making itself known. I guess with three of the band as noted fiddlers as well, they didn’t need a string quartet. A big surprise for me was seeing Sam Sweeney on drums, as I’ve seen him as a violinist many times. He only played violin briefly in the closing tunes. A very good drummer he is too, playing very much for accenting the song rather than simply laying down a beat.

We had one more song before the album, the powerful Going Down To The Wasteland from Songs From The Floodplain. It’s a very good link. You could imagine Bellowhead choosing and performing both Rosin The Bow and A Rose in June easily. We needed a rocking link to adjust our mindset.

Then we’re into the album, played in exact sequence with explanations. The album had mixed reviews. I’m on the 4 to 5 star side of the line and it’s one of my “Albums of 2017.” One review heard Peter Gabriel era Genesis, with David Bowie and Kate Bush in the drama. I thought the more theatrical end of David Bowie, with a touch of Freddie Mercury in the drama and soaring vocals in places. Whatever,  it’s not folk. It’s not folk rock either. It’s more prog employing unusual instrumentation … strings, euphonium, flugelhorn, oboe, concertina. Perhaps the Pysch-folk genre?  ELO? Does it matter?

Moths In The Gas Light leads into it. Interesting rhythm, prominent lead guitar and for me the first earworm of the album … you should have a strong melody on track one.

Afterglow has an anthemic hook. I wondered if the shared title had reminded the reviewer of Genesis, not that the songs have any similarity. The other song that comes to my mind is The Small Faces’ song from 1969. There are many others, but there’s no copyright on titles.

Bee Sting has a lovely intricate guitar intro, played by Jon Boden. If I wanted to say “Listen to one song and buy the album” it would now be Bee Sting, though it was a builder rather than an initial impression. It’s the third song with a strong melody. The change with heavy percussion is very prog … the soft guitar intro then “here come the drums.” though they don’t continue from that point.

Wrong Side of Town showcases the power of that three piece string section as an insistent rythmic force, then lifting the song as well.  Four strong melodies in a row, and it segued straight into Fires of Midnight to run to the interval.

All The Stars Are Coming Out Tonight started the second part of the evening. It’s the lead virtual single and video, (LINKED HERE) and according to reviews,  the most “Bellowhead-like” song. Only on the chorus for me. Insistent crisp acoustic guitar from Jon Boden.  We had much more guitar from Jon Boden this evening than I’ve seen before, even in Spiers and Boden concerts. I’d thought violin his first instrument, but he is an exceptional guitarist too. The horn section come into their own on the instrumental break.

Dancing In The Ruin is the most Bowie flavoured song of all. Excellent.

The radical rethinking of Whitney Houston’s I Want To Dance With Somebody got one of the loudest applause points of the evening. He did it solo with guitar.  The explanation blended it into the storyline. I was reminded of his equally radical take on Janis Joplin’s Mercedes Benz on a Folk Song A Day.

Burning Streets has strong electric guitar from Richard Warren, and is the last of the conventional songs. It was slightly messy in sound, I thought.

Yellow Lights is the most unconventional song of the lot. It’s the longest track, the most innovative and the most orchestral. The melody and style is East European, pre-war Berlin, French café, Kurt Weill … only Leonard Cohen has explored this area recently, and then not this unusually. There is a strong Flugelhorn part, but then the variety of sounds cascade over each other. I’d bet this is a swine to play, I thought.

Aubade is a low key gentle and sweet closing song. It’s been a terrific presentation of the album.

Roll The Woodpile Down was just Jon on guitar with the string trio (The Remnant Strings) on a number very well-known from Bellowhead.  Much as I loved the sound of just his guitar and three string players. I thought it an odd arrangement choice, as it’s the sort of song that benefits from the wall of sound ensemble particularly well. Other songs would have benefitted more from the line up to me. I guess it was just a tad low key compared to Bellowhead’s version.

Beating The Bounds is another strong track from Songs From The Floodplain. I was beginning to hope for my favourite tracks, We Do What We Can and Dancing In The Factory but it was not to be.

Leviathan

The main set ended with linked tunes (and introductions) with Leviathan / Tombola with Jon Boden on violin. Sam Sweeney stopped drumming for a section on violin too. These are such crowd pleasers with a large band and everyone sawing away on fiddles, that I’m slightly surprised that like Bellowhead and Spiers & Boden he doesn’t put another one in … but it’s an expected high energy main set ender.

The first encore was Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love. The band was the core original Remnant Kings … Jon Boden, Sam Sweeney, Ben Nicholls, Paul Sartin, Rob Harbron. All five were playing concertinas too. There’s a YouTube video of this arrangement, with The Remnant Kings, but recorded five years ago at The Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2012.

The final song, All Hang Down was announced as a Temperance Marching Song from the Salvation Army that got hijacked into a drinking song.

There is an issue with playing the whole album live, if, as he said It only works like this. What do you do the you have another album, or two, or three, out? Do you play all of it then? At some point selection will have to take place and break the concept. So, I’m very pleased to have seen it played in its entirety.

The lights and set design were first rate. Sound OK, but not great. Any amplified band finds Poole Lighthouse hard. Bellowhead found it very hard in 2013. This band had a lot less volume, but we saw friends in the interval, and their first comment was “messy sound, hard to hear the words.” Last time, like several bands in Poole’s hall, Bellowhead were too loud for the acoustic. Not so here tonight, with tiny practice amps mic’d into the PA, but while not loud, it was indistinct compared to what Paul Simon or Leonard Cohen achieved with large bands. Ben Nicholls is a great bass player, but the bass was indistinct … bass virtually always is in this hall. I’ve heard his bass as far more articulate in other venues and the bass has a lovely spring to it throughout the recording. Probably it was less distinct on bass guitar than double bass too and it mixed in with bass drum.  They sensibly placed drums extreme stage left on a riser, eliminating the problem of drums bleeding into mics. The comment several made was they couldn’t hear the words clearly enough. For me Jon Boden’s mic needs to be higher in the mix, and there was (as ever) too much echo on the vocal. When you have such a live acoustic as a classical concert hall, you get enough echo from amplifiers into speakers without adding more. Maybe they didn’t add more echo and the hall is the only issue. I know people who say they’ve never heard an amplified band sound good there, but that’s not true. When they were having great jazz, the likes of the pretty loud and amplified Zawinul Syndicate got pristine sound.

They started at 7.30, right on time. They took a 30 minute interval … basically, if you speak to musicians on tour, the interval sales are a vital part of the financial equation, and then finished at 9.55. Virtually two hours on stage, and although he sounded as if he had a sore throat and looked a little tired, Jon Boden announced that they would be going to the bar afterwards and would be playing more tunes for anyone who wanted to listen. We couldn’t stay unfortunately. I guess that the arrangements of the album are complex and tight all evening, and the band enjoy letting off steam with some looser “tunes”.

OTHER REVIEWS OF JON BODEN ON THIS BLOG:

  • Bellowhead 2.2013
  • Bellowhead 2014
  • Bellowhead 2016
  • Bellowhead 7.2013
  • Bellowhead 7.2015
  • Spiers & Boden 5.13
  • Spiers & Boden, 6.13
  • Spiers and Boden 2014

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        • The Unthanks 04.2012
        • The Unthanks 10.2012
        • The Unthanks 12.11
        • The Unthanks 2.2015
        • The Unthanks 2019
        • The Unthanks 2022
        • The Unthanks 5.2017
        • The Waterboys
        • Thea Gilmore
        • Tom Jones
        • Van Morrison
          • Van Morrison 1998
          • Van Morrison 1999
          • Van Morrison 2000
          • Van Morrison 2001
          • Van Morrison 2002 Jan.
          • Van Morrison 2002 Oct.
          • Van Morrison 2003 Jul.
          • Van Morrison 2003 Sep.
          • Van Morrison 2005 Mar.
          • Van Morrison 2005 Nov.
          • Van Morrison 2007
          • Van Morrison 2012
          • Van Morrison 2013
          • Van Morrison 2019
        • Ward Thomas, Hyde Park
        • Zawinul Syndicate
        • Zoot Money
      • Gigs, venues and prices
      • HMV. His Master’s Voice silenced?
      • Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams
      • Music From Big Pink – 50th anniversary
      • Names, Scribble & Numbers
      • Nancy Sinatra
      • Note of Hope (Woody Guthrie)
      • Phil Everly RIP
      • Rock pictures
      • RoseAnn Fino
      • Shadows In The Night
      • Thank You For The Muzac
      • The Band reviews & pictures
      • The Beautiful Old
      • The Village Green Preservation Society
      • The Weight – covers
      • Twelve Songs For Christmas 2013
    • rants
      • 100 Days Plus and Counting …
      • Driving Me Mad …
      • A Fishy Story
      • A Legal Matter
      • A Post-Brexit Vision
      • Agatha Christie: Deduction in a dell’arte mask
      • Allergies … and lawyers
      • Baby Boomer v Wokeperson
      • Barcodes
      • Beaujolais Nouveau …
      • Best of 2011
      • Best of 2012
      • Best of 2013
      • Best of 2014
      • Best of 2015 – music
      • Best of 2015 – Theatre
      • Best of 2016 – Music
      • Best of 2016 – Theatre
      • Best of 2017 – Music
      • Best of 2017 – Screen
      • Best of 2017- Theatre
      • Best of 2018 – Music
      • Best of 2018 – theatre
      • Best of 2019 – Concerts
      • Best of 2019 – Theatre
      • Best of 2019- Music
      • Best of 2020
      • Best of 2020- Music
      • Best of 2022 – Music
      • Best of 2022- Theatre
      • Cars are cars
      • Chorizo is Vile
      • Christmas Markets
      • Christmases long past …
      • Civil Wars & Statues
      • Climate Change: my rant
      • Communication skills: Leaders TV debate 2015
        • Opposition Leader’s Debate, 16 April 2015
      • Crisis at the Cash Register
      • Culture Shock Bourbon Street
      • Cycling in London (and elsewhere)
      • Encounter: Saul Bellow
      • Eurovision 2022
      • Fawlty Towers and Tall Poppies
      • Flags and anthems
      • Football nicknames
      • Free Broadband in Every Packet!
      • Guilt and innocence
      • Hail, hail, the first of May
      • Howards End is a blur
      • In the April Garden …
      • In The Days of Covid-21
      • In the May Garden
      • Jangle Bells: shopping for Christmas
      • Jumble Sales
      • Land Of My Mother’s
      • London-centric theatre
      • Mail v Guardian
      • Major Brylcreem or My adventures in the CCF
      • Matinees
      • Not an amazing grace
      • On The Road: Information overkill
      • Parent and child spaces
      • Poppies
      • Princely Names
      • Quaint hotels
      • Remember, remember …
      • Secondhand Christmas
      • Shrink wrapping albums
      • Sloppy fiction?
      • Someone will call you back …
      • Sound … and Fury… at The Globe
      • SS-GB – Mumbling soundtracks
      • Supermarket check-outs
      • Surveys
      • Testing in schools
      • The “Poldark” Effect
      • The 2019 watershed?
      • The 70s were crap
      • The Building Behind Me …
      • The Cheerful e-bay seller
      • The Curse of The Crawleys: Downton Abbey Series 10
      • The Decline of Bournemouth
      • The End of Deference …
      • The Famous Five – by Paul F. Newman
      • The four day week?
      • The Great War
      • The Hacking Cough
      • The Long & The Short Of It
      • The March of The Halloumi Fries
      • The Shakespeare Cod-Piece
      • The Stitch Up
      • View From The Queue
      • What happened to car CD players?
      • What’s happened to air travel?
    • stage
      • ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore – Cheek by Jowl
      • ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore – Wanamaker
      • 8 Hotels
      • A Damsel in Distress
      • A Little Hotel On The Side
      • A Mad World My Masters
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – BBC TV 2016
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Bridge 2019
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Filter 2011
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Globe 2013
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Globe 2016
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Grandage 2013
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Propellor 2013
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – RSC 2011
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – RSC 2016
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Selladoor 2013
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Watermill 2018
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Watermill Tour 2019
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Young Vic
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bath 2016
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Globe 2019
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream- Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream- Headlong
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream- Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare
      • A Midsummer Nights Dream – Handspring 2013
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream RSC 2016 Revisited
      • A Number
      • A Streetcar Named Desire NT Live
      • A Taste of Honey
      • A Very Very Very Dark Matter
      • A View From The Bridge
      • A Woman of No Importance
      • Abigail’s Party 2013
      • Absolute Hell
      • Ah, Wilderness!
      • Albion
      • All My Sons
      • All New People
      • All’s Well That Ends Well – RSC 2013
      • All’s Well That Ends Well- 2018
      • All’s Well That Ends Well- RSC 2022
      • Amadeus – 2014
      • Amadeus – NT 2017
      • American Buffalo
      • An Enemy of The People
      • An Ideal Husband 2018
      • An Ideal Husband- 2014
      • Antony & Cleopatra – RSC 2013
      • Antony & Cleopatra – RSC 2017
      • Antony and Cleopatra – Globe
      • Antony and Cleopatra 2012
      • Arcadia
      • Arden of Faversham
      • Around The World in 80 Days
      • As You Like It – Globe 2015
      • As You Like It – Globe 2018
      • As You Like It – National 2015
      • As You Like It – RSC 2019
      • As You Like It RSC 2013
      • Awful Auntie
      • Bakkhai
      • Balletboyz: The Talent
      • Barber Shop Chronicles
      • Bartholomew Fair
      • Beauty & The Beast (Ballet Theatre UK)
      • Before The Party
      • Birthday
      • Bitter Wheat
      • Black Comedy
      • Blithe Spirit
      • Blithe Spirit – Bath 2019
      • Blood Wedding
      • Blues For An Alabama Sky
      • Boudica
      • Bring Up The Bodies
      • Broken
      • Candida
      • Cardenio
      • Carmen Disruption
      • Caroline or Change
      • Comedy of Errors – Globe
      • Comedy of Errors – RSC, 2021
      • Comedy of Errors NT 2012
      • Comedy of Errors RSC ’12
      • Communicating Doors
      • Comus
      • Copenhagen
      • Coriolanus – NT Live
      • Coriolanus – RSC
      • Crazy For You
      • Curiosity Shop
      • Cymbeline – RSC
      • Cymbeline – Wanamaker
      • Dancing At Lughnasa
      • Death Of A Salesman
      • Deathtrap
      • Dedication
      • Dido, Queen of Carthage
      • Dinner With Saddam
      • Doctor Faustus
      • Don Carlos
      • Don Juan in Soho
      • Don Quixote
      • Doubt – a parable
      • Dream
      • Dunsinane
      • Echo’s End
      • Educating Rita
      • Edward II
      • Electro Kif
      • Endgame / Rough for Theatre II
      • Eyam
      • Fallen Angels
      • Fantastic Mr Fox
      • Far
      • Farinelli and The King
      • Fences
      • First Light
      • Flare Path
      • Follies
      • For Services Rendered
      • Forests
      • Fortune’s Fool
      • Forty Years On
      • Fracked! Or Please Don’t Use The F-Word.
      • Frankenstein – NT Encore
      • French Without Tears
      • Funny Girl
      • Future Conditional
      • George’s Marvellous Medicine
      • Girl From The North Country
      • God of Carnage
      • Gypsy
      • Hairspray, The Musical
      • Half A Sixpence
      • Hamilton
      • Hamlet – Cumberbatch
      • Hamlet – Globe 2014
      • Hamlet – Maxine Peake
      • Hamlet – NT 2010
      • Hamlet – RSC 2016
      • Hamlet RSC 2013
      • Hamlet- Almeida / BBC 2017
      • Hamlet- Young Vic 2011
      • Hangmen
      • Harlequinade / All On Her Own
      • Harlequinade / All On Her Own – review
      • Hay Fever
      • Hecuba
      • Hedda Gabler
      • Hedda Tesman
      • Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 RSC
      • Henry V – 2018
      • Henry V – Jude Law
      • Henry V – RSC 2015
      • Henry VI – Rebellion
      • Henry VI – Wars of The Roses
      • Henry VI: Three plays
      • Hobson’s Choice
      • Hogarth’s Progress
      • Home
      • Home, I’m Darling
      • Hysteria
      • Imogen (Cymbeline) – Globe 2016
      • Importance of Being Earnest 2010
      • Importance of Being Earnest – Suchet, 2015
      • Importance of Being Earnest – Watermill
      • Importance of Being Earnest 2014
      • Importance of Being Earnest- 2018
      • Inala
      • Institute
      • Into The Hoods – Remixed
      • Ivanov
      • Jack Absolute Flies Again
      • Jeeves and Wooster
      • Jerusalem
      • Jerusalem – 2018
      • Jitney
      • John Gabriel Borkman
      • Julius Caesar – Globe 2014
      • Julius Caesar – RSC 2012
      • Julius Caesar – RSC 2017
      • Ka
      • King Charles III
      • King John – Globe 2015
      • King John – Rose, 2016
      • King John – RSC 2019
      • King Lear Frank Langella
      • King Lear – Antony Sher, RSC 2016
      • King Lear – Barrie Rutter
      • King Lear – David Haig
      • King Lear – Globe 2017
      • King Lear – McKellen 2017
      • King Lear – Russell-Beale
      • Kiss Me Kate
      • Kunene and The King
      • La Bête
      • Lady Windermere’s Fan
      • Leopoldstadt
      • Life of Galileo
      • Little Shop of Horrors
      • Local Hero
      • Long Day’s Journey Into Night
      • Love
      • Love For Love
      • Love’s Labour’s Lost
      • Love’s Labour’s Lost – 2018
      • Love’s Labour’s Lost- 2016
      • Love’s Labour’s Won
      • Love’s Sacrifice
      • Love, Love, Love
      • Macbeth – Globe 2016
      • Macbeth – McAvoy 2013
      • Macbeth – National Theatre 2018
      • Macbeth – Tara Arts
      • Macbeth – Young Vic
      • Macbeth RSC 2018
      • Macbeth, RSC 2011
      • Macbeth, Watermill 2019
      • Macbeth- Chichester 2019
      • Macbeth- Wanamaker 2018
      • Mack & Mabel
      • Malory Towers
      • Man and Superman
      • Mary Poppins
      • Me and My Girl
      • Measure for Measure – Globe 2015
      • Measure for Measure – Young Vic
      • Measure for Measure RSC 2012
      • Measure For Measure- RSC 2019
      • Medea NT live
      • Miss Julie / Black Comedy
      • Miss Littlewood
      • Mojo
      • Monsieur Popular
      • Mrs Warren’s Profession
      • Much Ado About Nothing – Globe 2014
      • Much Ado About Nothing – Globe 2017
      • Much Ado About Nothing – NT 2022
      • Much Ado About Nothing – Old Vic 2013
      • Much Ado About Nothing – Rose 2018
      • Much Ado About Nothing – RSC 2014
      • Much Ado About Nothing- Northern Broadsides
      • Much Ado About Nothing- RSC 2016
      • Much Ado About Nothing- RSC 2022
      • Much Ado About Nothing- Wyndhams 2011
      • Murder On The Orient Express (stage)
      • Murder, Margaret and Me
      • My Brilliant Friend (play)
      • My Night With Reg
      • Neighbourhood Watch
      • Nell Gwynn
      • Nice Fish
      • No Man’s Land
      • Noises Off
      • Obsession
      • Oklahoma! – Chichester
      • Once
      • One Man, Two Guvnors
      • Othello – Globe 2018
      • Othello – RSC 2015
      • Othello NT 2013
      • Othello- ETT 2018
      • Othello- Wanamaker 2017
      • Othello- Watermill 2022
      • Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour
      • Our Man in Havana (musical)
      • People
      • People Like Us
      • Pericles
      • Peter & The Starcatcher
      • Peter and Alice
      • Peter Gynt
      • Peter Pan (pantomime)
      • Peter Pan Goes Wrong
      • Photograph 51
      • Pitcairn
      • Plastic
      • Platonov
      • Playing Cards 1: Spades
      • Plenty
      • POSH
      • Present Laughter – Chichester 2018
      • Present Laughter – Old Vic 2019
      • Present Laughter- Bath 2003
      • Present Laughter- Bath 2016
      • Pressure
      • Private Lives
      • Privates On Parade
      • Punishment Without Revenge
      • Punk Rock
      • Pygmalion
      • Quatermaine’s Terms
      • Queen Anne
      • Quiz – James Graham
      • Racing Demon
      • Ralegh: The Treason Trial
      • Relative Values
      • Richard II – Globe
      • Richard II – RSC
      • Richard III – Almeida
      • Richard III – Apollo 2012
      • Richard III – Freeman
      • Richard III – RSC 2012
      • Richard III – RSC 2022
      • Richard III – Spacey, 2011
      • Robin Hood (panto)
      • Romantics Anonymous
      • Romeo & Juliet – Globe 2017
      • Romeo & Juliet – RSC 2018
      • Romeo & Juliet 2014 – Box Clever
      • Romeo & Juliet, Headlong 2012
      • Romeo & Juliet- Branagh 2016
      • Romeo and Juliet – NT, 2021
      • Romeo and Juliet- Globe 2015
      • Romeo and Juliet: Tobacco Factory
      • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
      • Ross
      • Rules for Living
      • Salomé – RSC
      • Same Time, Next Year
      • School nativities
      • Secondary Cause of Death
      • Separate Tables
      • Shakespeare in Love
      • She Stoops To Conquer – Bath 2015
      • She Stoops to Conquer – Rain or Shine
      • Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads
      • Skylight
      • Slava’s Snowshow
      • Snow in Midsummer
      • South Pacific
      • Spring Awakening
      • Stepping Out
      • Strife
      • Swan Lake
      • Sweet Bird of Youth
      • Switzerland
      • Tamburlaine
      • Tangomotion
      • Tartuffe- RSC
      • The Alchemist – RSC
      • The Argument
      • The Beauty Queen of Leenane
      • The Beauty Queen of Leenane – 2021
      • The Beaux Stratagem
      • The Birthday Party
      • The Book of Mormon
      • The Broken Heart
      • The Canterbury Tales
      • The Captive Queen
      • The Caretaker
      • The Chalk Garden
      • The Changeling
      • The City Madam
      • The Constant Wife
      • The Country
      • The Country Girls
      • The Country Wife
      • The Cripple of Inishmaan
      • The Crucible, NT 2022
      • The Crucible, Old Vic 2014
      • The Deep Blue Sea – 2019
      • The Deep Blue Sea-NT live, 2016
      • The Doctor
      • The Dresser
      • The Duchess of Malfi – 2012
      • The Duchess of Malfi – 2014
      • The Duchess of Malfi – RSC 2108
      • The Entertainer
      • The Famous Five: A New Musical
      • The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich
      • The Ferryman (Acts 2 & 3)
      • The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk
      • The Four Seasons: A Reimagining
      • The Game of Love and Chance
      • The Ghost Train
      • The Height of The Storm
      • The Homecoming
      • The Hot House
      • The Hypochondriac
      • The Hypocrite
      • The Jew of Malta
      • The Knight of The Burning Pestle
      • The Ladykillers
      • The Lie
      • The Lieutenant of Inishmore- 2018
      • The Lieutenant of Inishmore-2001
      • The Lock In
      • The Lock In Christmas Carol
      • The Magistrate – NT Live
      • The Magna Carta Plays
      • The Man In The White Suit
      • The Merchant of Venice – Almeida
      • The Merchant of Venice – Globe
      • The Merchant of Venice – RSC
      • The Merry Wives – Northern Broadsides
      • The Merry Wives of Windsor – Globe 2019
      • The Merry Wives of Windsor – RSC 2012
      • The Merry Wives of Windsor- RSC 2018
      • The Misanthrope ETT
      • The Miser
      • The Narcissist
      • The Nightingales
      • The Norman Conquests
        • Living Together
        • Round & Round The Garden
        • Table Manners
      • The Odyssey
      • The Painkiller (2016)
      • The Play That Goes Wrong
      • The Play What I Wrote
      • The Price
      • The Provoked Wife
      • The Recruiting Officer
      • The Rehearsal
      • The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
      • The Rivals
      • The Roaring Girl
      • The Rover
      • The Ruling Class
      • The School for Scandal
      • The Seagull
      • The Seagull- Chichester
      • The Seven Year Itch
      • The Shoemaker’s Holiday
      • The Silver Tassie
      • The Southbury Child
      • The Spire
      • The Storm
      • The Syndicate
      • The Taming of The Shrew – RSC 2012
      • The Taming of The Shrew – RSC 2019
      • The Taming of The Shrew- Globe 2016
      • The Taxidermist’s Daughter
      • The Tempest – Bath Ustinov
      • The Tempest RSC 2012
      • The Tempest RSC 2016
      • The Tempest- Wanamaker
      • The Truth
      • The Two Noble Kinsmen- 2018
      • The Two Noble Kinsmen- RSC
      • The Unfriend
      • The Upstart Crow
      • The Wars of The Roses
        • Edward IV
        • Henry VI
        • Richard III
      • The Watsons
      • The Way of The World
      • The Weir
      • The Whale
      • The White Devil – Globe
      • The White Devil – RSC
      • The Winter’s Tale – Branagh
      • The Winter’s Tale – Cheek by Jowl
      • The Winter’s Tale – Globe 2018
      • The Winter’s Tale – RSC 2013
      • The Winter’s Tale – RSC 2021
      • The Winter’s Tale- Wanamaker
      • The Witch of Edmonton
      • There and Back Again – An Odyssey
      • Thérèse Raquin
      • This Happy Breed
      • This Is My Family
      • Timon of Athens
      • Timon of Athens – RSC
      • Titus Andronicus – RSC 2017
      • Titus Andronicus- Globe 2014
      • Totem
      • Travels With My Aunt (musical)
      • Travesties
      • Tristan and Yseult 2017
      • Troilus & Cressida RSC 2018
      • True West
      • Twelfth Night – Apollo 2012
      • Twelfth Night – Globe 2017
      • Twelfth Night – Globe, 2021
      • Twelfth Night – NT 2017
      • Twelfth Night – RSC 2017
      • Twelfth Night – Watermill
      • Twelfth Night – Young Vic
      • Twelfth Night RSC 2012
      • Twelfth Night- ETT 2014
      • Two Gentlemen of Verona – 2016
      • Two Gentlemen of Verona – RSC
      • Two Gentlemen of Verona- 2013
      • Uncle Vanya (Hare)
      • Uncle Vanya (McPherson)
      • Venice Preserved
      • Vice Versa
      • Volpone
      • Vulcan 7
      • Watership Down
      • Way Upstream
      • What The Butler Saw
      • While The Sun Shines
      • Wolf Hall
      • Woman in Mind
      • Women On The Verge of A Nervous Breakdown
      • wonder.land
      • Worst Wedding Ever
      • Woyzeck
      • Yerma (2017)
      • Young Chekhov Season
      • Young Marx
    • video
      • A Weekend Away, A Week By The Sea
        • Sections: Weekend Away / By the Sea
      • Dennis Cook: A history
      • Drama, dialogue and video
      • Teaching with video: techniques
      • Video: non-authentic
      • Video: on location
      • Video: Peter Viney Interview
      • Video: What happened?

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