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Pericles

Pericles
by William Shakespeare & George Wilkins

Directed by Dominic Dromgoole
Designed by Jonathan Fensom
Music by Claire Van Kampen

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
at Shakespeare’s Globe, London

Sunday 22nd November 2015, 14.00

Scan-151122-0001

CAST:

(In fact, most took four or five roles – only principal ones listed)

Simon Armstrong 
- Antiochus, king of Antioch /Simonides, king of Pentapolis
Jessica Baglow 
 – Marina, daughter of Pericles and Thaissa
Tia Bannon 
- Daughter
Sam Cox 
- Escanes, a lord of Tyre /Cerimon, a lord of Ephesus
Steffan Donnelly 
- Lysimachus, Governor of Mytilene
James Garnon 
 – Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Dennis Herdman – 
Bolt, the Pandar’s servant
Tom Kanji 
- Thaliart, a lord of Antioch
Fergal McElherron 
- Helicanus, a lord of Tyre /Pandar (male brothel keeper)
Ryan McKen 
- Leonine
Dorothea Myer-Bennett 
- Thaisa, daughter of Simonides, wife of Pericles / Dionyza, wife of Cleon
Daniel Rabin 
- Cleon, Governor of Tarsus
Sheila Reid 
- Gower, medieval poet and chorus
Kirsty Woodward 
- Bawd (female brothel keeper) /Lychorida, nurse to Marina

Wanamaker Playhouse

Wanamaker Playhouse exterior on a crisp Sunday morning

I’d never seen it before. The corrupt quarto dates from 1609, and only this imperfect text has survived. Computer analysis suggest that Shakespeare’s contribution is the second half, with the beginning written by George Wilkins, described by Wiki as “victualler, panderer, dramatist and pamphleteer.” Some suggest collaboration, others rather that Wilkins’ prose version of the story was perhaps based on missing text of the play. This is the start of the third season of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, modeled on the Blackfriars indoor theatre, and so far they have avoided Shakespeare deliberately, wanting to get used to the space first. This season four related Shakespeare plays finally get on that stage … Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest; so a lot of storms at sea and a great deal of father-daughter stuff. They’re starting with Pericles so not “totally Shakespeare” yet.

I’ve been gradually replacing my single-play editions (mainly Signet) with the RSC / Macmillan editions whenever I see a new one. I buy them for the performance history. The RSC is the one edition the Globe shop doesn’t sell. For Pericles I got the older Penguin / RSC edition and was taken with the introduction, especially the concept that the play deliberately mimics or pastiches earlier styles … going back to the mimes and tableaux of the Mystery Cycles perhaps. In other words, NARRATIVE and EVENTS take priority over CHARACTER.

We were delighted to see James Garnon taking the lead, after so many appearances in “the main four or five parts but not the lead or title role.” Even when being serious, he can give fresh weighting and perfect timing to a line and draw a major laugh.

It begins and ends (as did Love for Love at the RSC this month) with the cast in simple trousers and white shirts, or white modern frocks. In between it’s costumed with an eclectic mix of Classical Greek and much later Turkish or Middle-Eastern.

rsz_pericles3

Sheila Reid (narrator)

The play uses a narrator as a link throughout, supposedly the medieval poet Gower, here played by the tiny Sheila Reid, and I hope she’ll excuse the inevitable mention that she was the belligerent, feisty wheelchair-bound grandma through seven series of the sitcom Benidorm. Don’t get snooty about Benidorm … Rob Brydon, Sheridan Smith and James Cordern (all reviewed in the theatre on this blog) were in it too.

You can feel the joins between the Wilkins and Shakespeare. We both found the first half an hour (Wilkins) frankly somewhat tedious, and that was exacerbated, I think, by choosing to do the whole Antioch sequence with the candelabra blown out, and only hand held candles lighting the faces. It looked so great at the start, but because you can’t see that much and the text is not fantastic, the mind drifts. The Antioch section is where Pericles has to solve a riddle to be a suitor for the king’s daughter, and works out that Antiochus is in an incestuous relationship with his daughter. Antiochus knows that Pericles knows, and dispatches an assassin to deal with him.

pericles-02-large

Pericles with sailors

We move on to Pericles rescuing Tarsus from famine with a boatload of food. Dorothea Myer-Bennett was so good at doubling the evil Dionyza, the wife of Cleon of Tarsus, and later Thaissa that it was only reading the cast list later that I realized she was both. I should have guessed from her ability to give such fresh and interesting weighting to every line she has.

Off Pericles sails to Pentapolis, where he is shipwrecked. Shakespeare didn’t have an editor to say, “Hey, you’ve done this before!” but the only answer would be “And I’m going to do it again. See, I’ve got this idea about a tempest … ” Pericles is rescued by fishermen who also dredge up his armour. He goes off to join a tournament in honour of King Simonides daughter, Thaissa, and suddenly with the tournament scene, the play starts to lift off. The Wanamaker has done it before, but the tournament was a glorious chase around the outside glimpsed through the windows (I doubt you’d see much from upstairs … but it was right by us and superb.)

After a splendid stylized dance by the men … a soldier’s dance … then another by the women, a seductive dance, Simonides’ initial doubts about Pericles dispels and he pushes them together. Simon Armstrong as Simonides does this with glee … a great role … as of course are James Garnon as Pericles with Dorothea Myer-Bennett as Thaissa. Ah, this is getting much much better.

Pericles-theatre-reviews

Pericles (James Garnon) stuck in the rigging

Two years pass … as Gower tells us. Thaissa is pregnant and they set off by sea back to Tyre. A large sail appears and a plank with ropes appears at the front of the stage. The storm at sea is staged extremely well, especially given the confines of the Wanamaker. The four brilliant musicians do it all live … no recorded sound effects … with thunder sheets and percussion. The music is by Claire Van Kampen. Thaissa gives birth but apparently dies in childbirth. The superstitious crew insist that the dead body is put overboard, leaving Pericles with infant neonate, Marina. He decides to take the baby to Tarsus, and have Cleon and Dionzya foster her.

As luck would have it, they put Thaissa’s body in a sealed sea chest as a coffin and that sea chest gets washed up on the coast of Ephesus where she is revived by the medical skills of Cerimon. She nips off to become a priestess of Diana.

We have an interval, and Gower tells us that fourteen years have passed. Poor Pericles is now in heavy wig and beard and rags, not having cut his hair since Thaissa died. He might not have had a bath either. Dionzya has grown jealous of Marina’s virginal perfection and decides to have her murdered. The murderer is stayed by the arrival of pirates who kidnap her. Is their comic accent Rumanian? It’s very funny. There are two main pirates, but in their initial raid several others have to join in.

We cut to a brothel in Mytilene (the modern Isle of Lesbos) for the very best scene on the play. The pirates have sold Marina to a brothel, as being a virgin she will command a high price. The brothel keepers are Kirsty Woodward who is very tall, and Fergal McElherron who is very short (though he towers over Sheila Reid’s Gower) and they’re assisted by Bolt. Good physical casting.  They’re a first-rate hilarious triple act with a lot of added lines and asides and business. Estuary accents work. Exotic costumes look good too. The virginal Marina fights off all advances, including those of the governor of Mytilene, Lysimachus, who repents of his naughty deeds on meeting her. The brothel keepers give up on selling her body (she just won’t), and decide to rent her out as a singing and embroidery teacher instead.

Pericles-PROD-1261_captioned

Pericles (James Garnon) is reunited with Marina (Jessica Baglow)

This is where the travelling Pericles runs into her. He is mortally ill, and she’s employed to sing to him. They get chatting and realize they are father and daughter. The “revelation” scene where they work this all out is very long (and beautifully executed too). Perhaps it’s why Shakespeare skipped over the revelation in The Winter’s Tale a couple of years later … been there, done that.

Anyway, the Goddess Diana has descended from the roof to help Pericles, so they troop off to thank Diana at her temple in Ephesus, meet Thaissa, her votary, and live happily ever after.

For the curtain calls, everyone’s back in plain white clothes … fittingly as each actor played so many different parts … I’ve still no idea who the pirates were. The Wanamaker hasn’t got the space on stage for Globe-sized casts, and economics must come into play … it’s a small theatre. The audience weren’t quite sure of the end point, as it went into a dance without any demarcation line. The curtain call section is fun, but really needs clarifying and signposting so we’re sure when to applaud and when to clap along, then applaud again. We were sure that it was the director, Dominic Dromgoole, watching from the back row downstairs, just a few days in, so maybe that will all be tightened.

The play has such modern parallels … Tyre is in Lebanon, Antioch and Tarsus are on the coast of Turkey. Antioch is “round the corner” on the west-facing coast of the Mediterranean, like Syria and Lebanon. It’s just 12 miles from Syria.  Pentapolis was in Cyrenica, on the Libyan coast, then Mytilene is on the Island of Lesbos. People coming from the Lebanese coast so near to Syria, wandering the Mediterranean, leaving Libya, landing on the coast of Turkey, then getting to Lesbos, with shipwrecks and bodies washed up on the shore. People traffickers (the pirates) and sex slaves. I think it is to Mr Dromgoole’s credit that he let the play of Pericles speak for itself without hammering in any modern parallels … best leave that heavy-handed angle to the Young Vic or Trafalgar Studio! I will be surprised if someone doesn’t pick up on those locations and shoehorn a concept into it.

The play does have an intrinsic problem with the early text not being at the same level as the later text, but there are scenes, especially the brothel scene here, of such massive comic and dramatic potential. You can see why it was one of the most popular plays of its own era, and the very first Shakespeare played after the Restoration of the Monarchy.

The Globe has so much going for it on a day like today … excellent Sunday lunch in the restaurant, a “perfect programme” to read, and a given is the quality of acting and direction. Claire Van Kampen has cornered the field of accompanying music for classic English drama too. It’s always just right, never intrusive.

FOUR STARS

A footnote: JOHN GOWER 

John Gower

The tomb of John Gower, Southwark Cathedral

Shakespeare chose John Gower to be his narrator. A couple of weeks after seeing Pericles we were in Borough Market and it started raining and we had a long wait before seeing Macbeth at The Young Vic. We decided to take a look inside Southwark Cathedral, which boasts that Gower, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Jonson, Massinger, Fletcher and Charles Dickens were among its congregation. It was the nearest church to The Globe, and Edmond Shakespeare, William’s brother was buried there in 1607 … the year Pericles was written. We were taken by the fine carving on a tomb on the side wall: John Gower, 1330-1408, poet laureate to Richard II and Henry IV who unusually for his era, wrote in English. An original medieval tomb which was there when Shakespeare was … church attendance was compulsory and we’d assume that Shakespeare at least attended his brother’s funeral. A thought struck me … I could imagine William sitting in a pew, his mind flitting between the service and his latest work in progress … A glance to the left. The very fine tomb of John Gower. Gower … Richard II and Henry IV are mentioned on the tomb … done those already. Inspiration! Gower can be the narrator / chorus of Pericles …

PROGRAMME

State-of-the-art as ever.

RELATED REVIEWS ON THIS BLOG

DOMINIC DROMGOOLE

Measure for Measure, Globe 2015
Romeo & Juliet – Globe
The Changeling – Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Julius Caesar – Globe
Hamlet – Globe
Duchess of Malfi– Sam Wanamaker
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Globe

JAMES GARNON

As You Like It – Globe (Jacques)
‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore – Wanamaker (Bergetto, Cardinal)
Duchess of Malfi– Wanamaker (Cardinal)
Much Ado About Nothing – Old Vic (Don Pedro)
Richard III – Globe / Apollo (Duchess of York / Richmond)
The Winter’s Tale – Wanamaker (Autolycus)

DOROTHEA MYER-BENNETT

The Merchant of Venice – Globe (Nerissa)
Two Gentlemen of Verona – Tobacco Factory (Julia)
The Spire by William Golding (Salisbury) (Goody)

 

 

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        • The Searchers
        • The Transports
        • The Unthanks 03.11
        • 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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