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Sweet Bird of Youth

Sweet Bird of Youth
By Tennessee Williams

Sweet Bird of youth flier

Directed by Jonathan Kent
Designed by Anthony Ward
Music by Debbie Wiseman

Chichester Festival Theatre
Monday 12th June 2017, 19.30  

CAST

Marcia Gay Harden – Alexandra del Largo
Brian J. Smith – Chance Wayne
with
Emma Amos – Miss Lucy
Hester Arden – Edna
Matthew Barker – Scudder
Victoria Bewick – Heavenly Finley
Alex Bhatt – Stuff
Ray Emmet Brown – Fly
Graham Butler – Tom Finley Jnr.
Richard Cordery – Boss Finley
Ingrid Craig – Aunt Nonnie
Joy Cruickshank – Violet
Tim Frances – Hatcher
Kurt Kansley – Jackie (pianist)
Rob Ostiere – Bud
Sam Phillips – Scotty
Daniel Tuite – The heckler
Ewart James Walters – Charles

I was surprised to see this described as a lesser-known Tennessee Williams play, because it’s one of the first ones I’d think of. But that’s just me.  I did my research thesis on Hollywood & The Novel and spent some time considering whether to include playwrights who had worked in Hollywood, or written about Hollywood or simply about film stars of the Golden Age (as here). Sweet Bird of Youth qualified, and Tennessee Williams was writing for MGM just before his career took off.  Subsequently, Williams also had more of his stage work adapted for film  than any of his contemporaries. I’ve also stood and gazed at the house he was brought up in, which is in Clarkesdale, Mississippi, the absolute centre of the Delta Blues.

Sweet Bird of Youth is a later play, and dates from 1959.  This production has two real American movie actors.

A reluctant Chance (Brian J. Smith) is instructed to get on with it by Alexandra (Marcia Gay Harden).

The story takes place in 1956. Ageing Hollywood star Alexandra del Largo (Marcia Gay Harden) has retreated, drunk and on drugs, to St. Cloud, a small town on the Gulf Coast, after her come-back movie had a disastrous premier. She’s accompanied by a young hustler she’s picked up, Chance Wayne (Brian J. Smith), whose hometown is St Cloud. He was a beach boy at a hotel in Palm Beach. Chance has chosen their destination, at the Royal Palms Hotel, because he wants to look up his old girlfriend, Heavenly, daughter of the local politician. What he doesn’t know is that she is sterile as a result of a nasty dose of VD he gave her before he left, and her family is not happy about it. He tries to blackmail Alexandra, who is posing as The Princess Kosmonopolis to hide her identity. It’s not safe for him to be in town, as Boss Finley, and his son, Tom Finley Jnr are out to get him. In a fiercely political theme for 1959, a random black male has been taken off the street and castrated. The racist Boss Finley is to address a rally to justify that … but also says that Chance can expect the same fate. At the end, it turns out that Alexandra’s movie is a box office smash. Chance decides to wait and face his fate.

Chichester’s Festival Theatre is a massive semi-circular stage, and while this has a large cast, much of the focus is on just the two lead actors for the first hour.  They can’t play it right at the front either, because people at the sides don’t want to look at their side views. It’s just like last week at the Old Vic, with the size of the stage clashing with an intimate play … how many times have I said that this year? We were right at the front, slightly to the favoured side where the bed was, so not personally inconvenienced by the expanses of stage, but the play would work better in a smaller venue. Nevertheless, the set and the lighting plot are superb.

The play is unbalanced in its composition, growing out of a one-act piece, The Enemy: Time. The “two parter” impression is greatly increased because it’s not so much two actors interacting on stage, but for long periods just one is doing a monologue and the other reacting, or in the case of Chance’s long act one monologue, stitting ignoring him and doing make up.

Heavenly Finley (Victoria Bewick) and Boss Finley (Richard Cordery)

After the long, mainly two-parter bedroom scene, we switch and meet Boss Finley, but that seems to be a two parter with his son, followed by a two parter with his daughter, who he wants dressed in white beside him on the podium “like a virgin,” a phrase he repeats twice, making me wonder if Madonna ever saw the Eli Kazan 1962 film. Richard Cordery looks right for a Good Ol’ Boy Southern politician, and does the part of Boss Finley with considerable gusto.

Chance in the bar in Act Two

Act two is much livelier than act one. Partly because we get more characters on stage as we move to the bar in the hotel lobby. Mainly because Brian J.Smith gives such a truly magnificent performance as Chance. It’s an American acting style. When you think of Williams, you think of Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. You think of The Method, stumbling through a role ridden with angst. Smith does it so very well. In Act 2, Chance is popping Alexandra’s little pink pills washed down with vodka in the bar. He’s had a joint upstairs. He’s stoned, drunk, hyper. He can’t understand what he did to Heavenly, nor why everyone loathes him.  Face it, he’s thick, as well as self-obsessed. His ridiculous ambition to be a movie star, his fantasy world, comes out in his conversation with the sympathetic Aunt Nonnie (Ingrid Craig). She had looked the other way when he bribed a Pullman conductor so as to screw the 15 year old Heavenly in a vacant railway compartment. She knows about the drama festival where he fantasises he came second.

Tom Jnr (Graham Butler) confronts Chance

Then we get Tom Jnr (Graham Butler) the furious, weasely brother of Heavenly confronting Chance.  Butler gives us flat out anger. Superb performance. You get the blowsy Miss Lucy (Emma Amos), Boss Findley’s long time mistress, who’s inclined to write disparaging remarks about the Boss in lipstick on the ladies room mirror. There’s a scene where The Hillbilly Heckler, a character who follows Boss Findley around, is horribly beaten up by Tom Jnr and his buddies.  There are no small parts is the mantra, and the barman here, Stuff (Alex Bhatt), proved that, as a constant listening presence with his mighty quiff and absurd mauve uniform with gold epaulettes (designed by Chance when he worked that bar). I was often bored in Act One, but never at all in Act Two. I guess by 1959, Williams role in American theatre was too lofty for editorial advice. 10-15 minutes taken out of Act One would improve the play enormously. There’s simply too much repetition of the same points. OK, she’s old, over the hill. He’s on the make. We got that very quickly. Reiteration becomes dull.

Chance and Alexandra smoke a joint. He is recording her incriminating conversation.

After years of complaining about gratuitous smoking on stage, a contrary comment. A major plot hinge is that Chance, knowing that Alexandra has both pills and hashish, sets out to clumsily blackmail her so that she will launch him and Heavenly as film stars. Yes, Chance is definitely dumb. She produces the hash, and he gets her to talk about importing it … Florida had, and still has, swingeing drug laws … up to 30 years. So he has to roll a joint. Being at the front we saw this well. He then puts it in the pouch so as to switch for an electronic version. That happens twice. Both are odourless and smokeless. It used to be that Health & Heather’s Herbal Smoking Mixture was used on stage in the period between heavy stage smoking and electronic vapour. I saw it used particularly well for dope smoking on stage a few times … it smells vile, like a pungent wet bonfire, and not at all like tobacco. With a white tube, no vapour, and no smell, you think they might as well just mime it with a candy cigarette or tube of paper.

I wonder why British theatres continue to do American classics, when the rules mean they’re done with mainly British casts. At least both leads here were Americans. But most of the others, good as they were, drift on a word here or a word there. It’s OK, but I spent so many years answering criticism of audio recordings we did with American actors in London, that I’m hyper-sensitive. According to many Americans, leave an actor in London for a few weeks and his American either gets Britishisms added, or becomes exaggerated. I noticed that Brian J. Smith’s Southern was much less marked than the others … I suspect more realistic rather than “Stage Dixie.”  Both leads feel real.

The main criticism is that it is a melodramatic play, and in the late 1950s, Tennessee Williams was criticized for the violence and titillation in his plays, but Williams himself described them as “cornpone melodrama.” The fading Alexandra is a Williams stock figure, Chance is another favoured image, as Alexandra’s attempt to make human contact, but through a failed personality. It’s Tennessee Williams, and according to most, lesser Tennessee Williams. It is a very definite style.

I’ll go along with the crowd and say 3 stars, although at the interval I was going for two. I thought Act Two was four.

I was worried earlier this year that my edge was going as there was a run of 4 and 5 star reviews from me. Now I’ve had a longish run of 2s and 3s.

***

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID:
4
David Jays, Sunday Times. ****
3
Michael Billington, The Guardian ***
Domenic Cavendish, The Telegraph ***
Quentin Lets, Daily Mail, ***
Bella Todd, What’s On Stage, ***

JONATHAN KENT
Young Chekhov Season (Platanov, Ivanov, The Seagull) – Chichester
Gypsy by Arthur Laurents / Stephen Sondheim, Chichester Festival Theatre

GRAHAM BUTLER
Nell Gwynn, by Jessica Swale, The Globe (John Dryden)
Richard II, The Globe (Aumerie)
Henry VI: Three Plays. Globe on tour, (Henry VI)

 

 

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      • 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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