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Antony & Cleopatra – RSC 2017

Antony & Cleopatra
By William Shakespeare

Directed by Iqbal Khan
Designed by Robert Innes Hopkins
Music by Laura Mvula

The Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

Thursday, 6th April 2017, 13.15

CAST
Joseph Adelakun – Mardian, a eunuch / Scarus
Ben Allen – Octavius Caesar
Kristin Atherton – Iras
Will Bliss – Soothsayer
David Burnett – Pompet
Antony Byrne – Mark Antony
James Corrigan – Agrippa
Paul Dodds- Menas
Patrick Drury- Lepidus / Schoolmaster
Waleed Elgadi – Alexas
Sean Hart – Eros
Amber James – Charmian
Luke MacGregor – Menecrates / Proculeius
Anthony Ofoegbu – Diomedas
Dharmesh Patel – Philo / Ventidus
Lucy Phelps – Octavia
Josette Simon – Cleopatra
Jon Tarcy – Varrius / Demetrius
Marcello Walton – Maecenas
Andrew Woodall – Endobarbus

MUSIC
Voice – Zara McFarlane
Flutes / Whistles – Holly Cook
Trumpet – Abdrew Stone-Fewings
Guitar / Saz – Nick Lee
Tuba / Bass trumpet – Hugh Rashleigh
Percussion – James Jones
Keyboards – Bruce Neill

Cleopatra (Josette Simon) and Antony (Antony Byrne)

Antony & Cleopatra is intrinsically a greater play than Julius Caesar. The RSC made an odd decision to pair the two on one day for press reviews, yet the plays were not written as a continuing story, they just share three historical characters: Mark Anthony, Octavius and Lepidus. But the two plays have different directors here, and two of the three actors who played them in Julius Caesar are in Antony & Cleopatra, but playing quite different (and more minor) parts. Fine, but why then link them for reviews? I guess the common set designer? There’s a reason for switching Antony. This Cleopatra, while looking at least twenty years younger than her calendar age, is mature, and requires a more grizzled Antony. There are also those plot references to Octavius as a ‘boy’ and a ‘novice’ which require an older Antony. James Corrigan, who was such a good Antony in Julius Caesar, is relegated to Agrippa. As a compensation, Agrippa gets all Dolabella’s lines at the end.

Shakespeare was writing in short scenes, like a film, condensing ten years of history into fast flowing short episodes, and I always hope for exotic spectacle, the image of Elizabeth Taylor in the film Cleopatra lingers, even if we know it is not the Shakespeare play. So unfortunately does Carry On Cleo and Morecambe and Wise Christmas Specials. There is also a tendency to confuse the Queen of the Nile, who was Greek, with the Queen of Sheba, who was African.

In common with the rest of the season so far, there are no gimmicks. No stretched connections to a contemporary issue. It’s Roman and Egyptian in the costumes and settings we expect.

The play opens with a BANG! Probably the loudest amplified drums they’ve ever had at the RSC,  with an Egyptian dance sequence which must involve nearly the entire cast in masks.

Cleopatra’s Egypt is established with a cat statue, and so appropriately, Josette Simon’s Cleopatra is like a cat playing with mice. And rats. This is a Cleopatra of extraordinary volatility, so that her ladies, Charmian (Amber James) and Iris (Kristin Atherton) watch her throughout with a mixture of apprehension, fear and in Charmian’s case, suspiciousness and cynicism. Cleopatra is hardly ever seen alone. Her two ladies, Iras and Charmian are always by her side, as is Mardian, her eunuch. They’ve seen it all, not that it means they’re not afraid of her, but they are used to her, and so wary. This is a Cleopatra who can torture a messenger with one sharp fingernail below his chin. Such is her power, that he has to stand there and take this tiny instrument of agony. Passion, hypocrisy, cruelty, pretence all bundle in her, yet Cleopatra’s motives must remain an enigma to the viewer. You cannot take your eyes off this Cleopatra from the beginning to the spectacular and totally surprising and dignified end. Her vocal range is extraordinary. Some critics didn’t like her freedom with the lines. For us, she was the best Cleopatra we have ever seen. She has a rapid succession of costumes too, all of which are stunning.

Cleopatra (Josette Simon)

She first appears ascending from below, writhing on a bed with Mark Antony. The issue is back story. We need the prior knowledge that Mark Antony was once a mighty warrior but has gone to seed. This has happened in the four years which separate the end of Julius Caesar and the start of Antony and Cleopatra. The actor has to be able to combine the flashes of the great general, with the man who prefers the luxury and decadence of the Egyptian court. Who wouldn’t?

Cleopatra on her throne. Eunuch(Joseph Adelakun) standing. Iras (Kristin Atherton) lying. Charmian (Amber James) sitting.

There’s an issue. It’s a full 30 minutes longer than the RSC’s 2013 production. It’s too long, at 5 minutes short of three hours PLUS the interval. Most of that extra time is in the Rome / Battle sections. Hollywood called their version of the basic story just Cleopatra. As ever, it’s Egypt you want to see. Cleopatra, and Mark Anthony. The rest is back story and filler. It is simply too long. As ever, I don’t care much about the complexities of Rome’s Civil Wars between Octavius, Lepidus, Mark Antony and Pompey. I want to get back to the title roles and the exoticism of Egypt, just as Mark Antony did.

Rome is a lot of blokes in tunic, togas, breastplates and sandals betraying each other. It’s why I prefer Antony & Cleopatra to Julius Caesar where part two is just armoured Romans running about and arguing. However, this year the RSC did that so well in Julius Caesar, but here though done well, there’s too much Roman in-fighting for me. The Romans should be stressed and repressed. Uptight compared to the languid people of the Nile. I didn’t get that contrast as much as I have in the past. Neither of us liked the interpretation of Enobarbus as a gruff, Estuary accented, slightly thick soldier. Yes, I can follow the logic, but he was too much the surly sergeant to be a confidante. Octavius is inclined to fly into hysterical rage … good, but I’ve liked him as the icy bureaucrat in the past.

The Roman Baths … but who’s who? Lepidus (Patrick Drury) seated, Octavius (Ben Allen) declaiming

An issue was the first geographical switch from Egypt to Rome. It looks tremendous … they’re all in the steam baths. The trouble is when everyone’s wearing towels, there are no badges of rank, purple cloaks or gold imperial breastplates, to indicate immediately which one is Octavius, and which Lepidus and which various others who were just there for a wash or whatever naked Romans did in baths. Also, they don’t contrast with the luxury of Alexandria, because they’re lying around in towels too. Maybe I should know the text better, but I insist that any Shakespeare production should stand within its own logic and explanation. No prior knowledge admitted.

The set design is the third star of the play. We have the basic pillars from Julius Caesar, but massive drapes indicate Egypt, as well as the black cat statue, and later two pharaoh statues. In the second part, the pillars have been replaced with ruined pillars. The sea battle, normally a report, is demonstrated with a dozen large model ships (not “toy” ships as two reviews have it). These models are four foot long, and can be pushed around the stage with attached poles. It looks fantastic, not that you could really work out the marine battle tactics or results, even though one popped a little fire up on its wooden castle. Pompey’s ship for the onboard carousing scene is created with a huge sail and guy ropes very quickly. I thought they missed the cruel dismissal of Lepidus. Here he was just old and got drunk. They failed to show Antony and Octavius’ contempt for him.

The programme surprised me. It sets the historical context very well indeed. Then we have an article by James Shapiro on Triumphs, from Elizabethan times, back to Roman times. As it points out, the humiliation of being dragged behind Caesar through the streets of Rome, in some horrific pose, is a driver for Antony’s suicide, and at the end Cleopatra’s suicide. In fact, in the text, Octavius is conciliatory to generous. Is it distrust then? Then the article points to Act 3 Scene 1 of the play’s stage direction:

Enter VENTIDIUS as it were in triumph, with SILIUS, and other Romans, Officers, and Soldiers; the dead body of PACORUS borne before him

The article suggests that Jacobean audiences liked a spectacle, and that this would have been done as a major point in the play. This scene is often cut.

… playgoers of the Globe would have witnessed a formal triumph … It wasn’t enough for Ventidus to slay a great number of Parthians and win the battle; the Roman victory was incomplete without an enemy’s public subjection … Shakespeare understood that the threat of Octavius’ triumph (to Antony and to Cleopatra) … wouldn’t register forcefully enough unless playgoers had already witnessed just how awful and humiliating such a Roman triumph could be. Directors cut Ventidus’ scene at their peril.
James Shapiro

I agree with him. But … I was waiting for it, having read the programme, and was expecting some gruesome tableaux. Maybe I coughed and I missed it, but I don’t remember a dead body being carried on, let alone a “Triumph”.

The leads justified their casting. Antony Byrne did better with Mark Antony’s protracted death better than any previous ones, coughing and spluttering horribly. It is inevitable that “I am dead!” will get titters. It always does, but he reduced them to a mild embarrassed ripple. He made the scene work, being carried to Cleopatra, with his stomach wound being bound up.

josette-simon-as-cleopatra-and-james-corrigan-as-113002

Cleopatra (Josette Simon), Agrippa (James Corrigan) at the end

In the end, Josette Simon is easily the best Cleopatra we have seen, playing against a strong Mark Antony, Set design, lighting and Laura Mvula’s musical score are all five star BUT I can’t get over the length with such a high percentage of dull Roman machinations. Nor did they bring out the interpretations of Enobarbus, Octavius and Lepidus to suit my view.

FOUR STARS ****

WHAT THE PAPERS SAID
4
Patrick Marmon, Daily Mail ****
Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard ****
(They both thought it better than Julius Caesar … I disagree)
3
Michael Billington, Guardian ***
Domenic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph, ***
Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times ***
Michael Davies, What’s On Stage, ***
Anne Treneman, The Times ***
2
Mark Shenton, The Stage **

LINKS ON THIS BLOG:

In the Shakespeare 2017 Season, the lead roles are separate … Alex Waldmann and Martin Hutson in Julius Caesar, Josette Simon and Antony Byrne here. The rest of the cast are in for a full season. So see the other plays.

ANTONY & CLEOPATRA

Antony and Cleopatra 2012, Chichester Festival Theatre (Kim Cattral / Michael Pennington)
Antony & Cleopatra – RSC 2013 (Joaquina Kalukango / Jonathan Cake)
Antony and Cleopatra – Globe 2014 (Eve Best / Chris Wood)

IQBAL KHAN

Macbeth, Globe 2016
Othello, RSC 2015
Romeo & Juliet, Box Clever Tour 2014

ANTONY BYRNE
King Lear, RSC 2016 (Kent)

ANDREW WOODALL
Julius Caesar, RSC 2017
Wars of The Roses: Henry VI, Rose Kingston (Gloucester)
Wars of The Roses: Richard III, Rose Kingston (Derby)
First Light, Chichester 2016 (Major General Shea)

DHARMESH PATEL
Julius Caesar, RSC 2017
Cymbeline, Wanamaker Playhouse 2015 (Soothsayer, Philario)
The Tempest, Wanamaker Playhouse 2015 (Ferdinand)
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Wanamaker Playhouse 2016 (Proteus)

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          • 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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