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The Country Wife

The Country Wife
By William Wycherley

CFT_Website_Images_447x792px_CW

Directed by Jonathan Munby
Designed by Soutra Gilmour
Music by Grant Olding

Minerva Theatre, Chichester
Thursday 28thJune 2018, 14.45

CAST:

Susannah Fielding – Margery Pinchwife
Lex Shrapnel – Horner
Michael Elwyn – Sir Jasper Fidget
Jo Herbert – Alithea, Pinchwife’s sister
John Hodgkinson – Pinchwife
Scott Karim – Sparkish
Tom Kanji – A quack
Belinda Lang – Lady Fidget,
Harry Lawtey – Dorliant
Natasha Magigi – Mrs Squeamish
Charlotte Mills – Lucy, Alithea’s maid
Jack North – A boy
Robin Weaver – Dainty Fidget,  sister to Sir Jasper
Ashley Zhangazha – Harcourt

Chichester can assemble as good a cast as anywhere in London or Stratford. Look at the “Links to Other Reviews On This Blog” as an indication of how often we have seen these actors, and in such first rate productions. Lex Shrapnel in the male lead role, Horner, doesn’t get a recent link, but he was Romeo to Emily Blunt’s Juliet at Chichester in 2002.

The Country Wife dates from 1675. Wycherly based the character of Horner, the rake, partly on himself, partly on the Earl of Rochester. Both of them shared mistresses with King Charles II, and that included Nell Gwynn, which is why there are (now) perplexing jokes about oranges in the play. Wycherly sat out Cromwell’s Commonwealth era (1647-1660) in France, along with Charles II, and bits of three Moliere plays were utilised. The Country Wife has been called (well, in cover blurb) “The greatest English farce.”

Horner at the start of the play

The story starts with Horner (Lex Shrapnel), and a Quack doctor (Tom Kanji). Horner has been in France, and has decided that as no husbands in London trust him with their wives, he will feign impotence. He claims to have been treated for the pox (syphilis) in France and that a clumsy doctor(or even surgeon) has left him impotent. As the programme notes, mercury treatment could cause horrific sores and for your nose to fall off, so by extension they can believe he has become a eunuch. Mercury! Mercury! chuckles Sir Jasper Fidget when told. This should give him access to be alone with married women – which in those days of no contraception were the safest bet for the rake.

Susannah Fielding as Marjory Pinchwife watching TV

Then there’s the story of Mr Pinchwife (John Hodgkinson). As an ex-whorer of note, as a result he trusts no one and has kept his wife hidden in the country so as to preserve her bucolic innocence. He has had to bring her up to town, and claims to Horner & Co that she’s plain. He takes her to a play … jokes about plays and players feature a great deal … but sits in the cheap seats to avoid the aristocratic likes of Horner and his pals, Harcourt and Dorliant. However, Horner sees her. Pinchwife foolishly tells his wife that she has an admirer and she gets interested and excited. He dresses her up as a schoolboy to hide her from them. I’m not sure whether Horner sees through the disguise or finds schoolboys equally attractive.

 

L to R: Horner (Lex Shrapnel), Pinchwife (John Hodgkinson), Dorliant (Harry Lawtey)

Meanwhile, the fop Sparkish (Scott Karim) proves a figure of fun to the lads (Horner & Co). He is set to marry Pinchwife’s sister Alithea (Jo Herbert). Harcourt determines to steal her away from him.

Belinda Lang (Lady Fidget) gets it on with Horner (Lex Shrapnel)

Then Horner is pursued by three women … Lady Fidget (a wonderful advanced RP character by Belinda Lang), her sister in law Dainty (Robin Weaver) and Mrs Squeamish (Natasha Magigi). The casting here has them as three radically different-looking women in stature, age, ethnicity,  hair colour.

The three plots interweave, with Susannah Fielding’s Country Wife at the centre, totally innocently falling in love with Horner and disguising herself as Alithea to escape to Horner. That was easier in the days of universal wigs, and they transpose that to modern times so she can appear in Alithea’s black and white Cruella da Ville wig.

Her husband’s locked her in her room. As does Horner. At the end, when everyone else has worked out the ploy of Horner’s feigned impotence, they do a Cuckold’s dance. Mrs Pinchwife is the only one who didn’t understand what had happened and wanders to the back alone, not part of the dance (just as Susannah Fielding did as Portia in The Merchant of Venice incidentally).

Mrs Pinchwife is thrilled at the thought she has an admirer. Mr Pinchwife (John Hodgkinson) has realised he was daft to tell her.

Modern dress is spreading its way from virtually the default for Elizabethan and Jacobean drama to the Restoration period. The design is powerful, and by Soutra Gilmour who again favours blacks and modern dress, albeit often hyper-real modern dress. This time the whole set is black, floors, furniture and all. Horner’s flat has three matt black doors. When the set revolves to Pinchwife’s house, the doors are moulded glossy black. Everyone is dressed in blacks and whites: checks, stripes, floral, plain, but only black, white and grey. That is except for “The Country Wife” herself. Mrs Pinchwife (Susannah Fielding) stands out in bright yellow – first a dress, then a loungewear tracksuit, then pyjama bottoms. Even when she is dressed up as a schoolboy, Jennings or possibly Jimmy Cranky, the school uniform colour is yellow.

The production values are high. There’s dance, loud rock music, dynamic lighting. The second half opens with a song – it is rare to get just the one – by Jack North as “the boy” or Horner’s servant. The others dance.  Servants are important … Charlotte Mills as Lucy, Alithea’s servant links the plot together.

The lighting plot is intricate too, and I admired it. In plays of this era, the hardest thing to deal with is when a character goes into THINKS! inner monologue, or when an actor confides to the audience. Here they did it with an instant spot (or even facial pin-spot) on the speaker whilst everyone else froze. Perfectly executed. I’ve had to hit single faces on a large stage with a pin spot with 1960s limelights, and it is precision work for actor and light operator. No doubt now you can do it with a mouse on a video screen!

The downside for me is that the dialogue is fast, and not all the jokes survive time. The most famous bit when Lady Fidget claims she was closeted with Horner in his bedroom “looking at china” worked a dream, aided by the phallic white vase she is holding. I don’t know whether this is the first comic confusion over “going in the back way”. Sir Jasper Fidget (Michael Elwyn) is talking about Horner finding another route into a locked room. Horner and Lady Fidget interpret it differently.

The first half has too little of Susannah Fielding’s wide-eyed Mummerset Mrs Pinchwife, and the second half, when she comes to the fore is far funnier. Being forced to compose a “go away” letter to Horner, then changing it to a “come here” letter is the best part of the play … well, given Susannah Fielding and John Hodgkinson performing it, how could it not be marvellous? I would say they should have given Mr Pinchwife a bigger one … sorry, double entendre, like the pox, is highly infectious. I mean a bigger knife. It’s not the first time that a modern dress version of a play has had to deal with a character having a long dagger or sword, and resolved it by giving him a tiny penknife. There has to be a better way round the problem … his threat to carve WHORE on her forehead is weakened by the miniscule implement in his hand.

Harcourt (Ashley Zhangazha) and Sparkish (Scott Karim)

After Susannah Fielding, the other star comic role is Scott Karim’s fop, Sparkish. It is intrinsically the part to play large, and he’s great. I’ve seen Scott Karim before in totally different roles, and this was a surprise. We loved his interpretation, and both he and Susannah Fielding lit up the stage so much with their presence, that other scenes often felt too wordy, waiting for them to appear and enliven them.

They manage to avoid the “duel with tiny penknives” issue with Sparkish and Harcourt. Fabulous stuff. They go into battle with an electric blender, and Alithea stops the fight by pulling out the plug. The kitchen setting is also used when Mr Pinchwife, who has been brained with a frying pan, opens the black SMEG fridge/ freezer and soothes his brow with a pack of frozen peas.

The programme has much to say on the sexual morality of 1675. It points out the number of times that Horner seems a reluctant wooer and screwer, seeing intercourse as a chore, but compelled to seek ever more conquests, thus a sad figure. Lex Shrapnel succeeds in bringing out both dimensions. I can see the character … his true aim, I believe, is to impress his male pals. It’s a status thing. In the early 70s, I can think of two ELT teachers in the school I worked in who used to keep competitive scoresheets. At that time we were teaching mainly 20s to 30s age group, and there were more women than men in the classes … mainly Swiss, German and French. I lampooned the situation in the Dart Travis novel Foreign Affairs.  

I think the programme is right on the standards of 1675, and I think you can bring them up to the present. The two guys I’m thinking of lived for playing rugby at weekends, and I suspect they got more pleasure in boasting about their conquests while naked in a bath with their male pals than they did in the original encounters. Horner is alive and (un)well.

My feeling of unease about matinees was increased. It’s a Chichester matinee. The audience are “retired” to the extent that in the five minutes before the start, I started looking around for “younger people.” Two?  No more. Who else is free on a Thursday afternoon? After the interval, I noticed empty seats because there were three of them in our row. So I counted waiting for the start. Only one empty seat at the start of the play, TWENTY-ONE after the interval. I was amazed. Pshaw! (as everyone in the play says), A pox on them!

That’s a big interval exit rate. The production is urban and edgy. It reminded me of older audiences reactions to Emma Rice’s regime  at The Globe in 2016 and 2017. Modern dress, dynamic lighting, dance, loud music – I loved Horner appearing to operate a vinyl deck with LP on stage. There will be some who want the crinolines, satin dresses and elaborate wigs. I heard two ladies complaining in the ice cream queue that the first half was “too long.” It wasn’t that long … around 75 minutes, but they perceived it as “long.”

I have a strong feeling that like recent Minerva productions (This House, Quiz, Fracked …) it will make its way to the West End for a longer run. The cast is as good as you can get in every role and Chichester’s track record in creating important productions that can move on is a possible attraction in accepting the jobs. I reckon that it will be better received with evening audiences at Chichester, and much better received if it gets to London. It’s somewhat ironic as the small Sussex cathedral city of Chichester may end up as “The Country Wife” to a London production. It echoes what I’ve said about Classic Spring’s Oscar Wilde 2018 season in London. These plays would be way better received in Bath or Chichester than London. The Country Wife is the reverse.

****

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

4 star
Domenic Cavendish, Telegraph ****
David Jays, Sunday Times ****
3 star
Michael Billington, Guardian ***
Rosemary Waugh, The Stage ***
Anne Cox, Stage Review ***
Maxwell Cooter, What’ds On Stage ***
2 star
Anne Treneman, The Times **

LINKS ON THIS BLOG

JONATHAN MUNBY
King Lear, with Ian McKellen, Chichester 2017
First Light, by Mark Hayhurst, Chichester 2016
The Merchant of Venice, Globe, 2015
Twelfth Night, English Touring Theatre, Brighton 2015
Therese Raquin, by Zola, Bath Theatre Royal 2014
Antony & Cleopatra, Globe 2014

SUSANNAH FIELDING
The Merchant of Venice, Almeida 2015 (Portia)
The Beaux Stratagem, by George Farquhar, National Theatre 2015 (Mrs Sullen)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grandage Season, 2013 (Hermia)
The School For Scandal, by Sheridan, Bath Theatre Royal 2012 (Lady Teazel)
All New People by Zach Braff, London 2012 (Kim)

JOHN HODGKINSON
Twelfth Night, RSC 2017 (Sir Toby Belch)
Love’s Labour’s Lost– RSC 2014 (Don Armado)
Love’s Labour’s Won RSC 2014 (Don Pedro)
Hangmen, by Martin McDonagh, 2015 (Pierrepointe)
Love’s Labour’s Lost, RSC / Chichester 2016 (Don Armado)
Much Ado About Nothing, RSC / Chichester 2016 (Don Pedro)
The Ferryman, by Jez Butterworth, Royal Court, 2017 (Tom Kettle)

JO HERBERT
For Services Rendered, by Somerset Maugham, Chichester 2015 (Ethel)
Candida, by Shaw, Bath 2013
The Game of Love & Chance by Marivaux, Salisbury 2011 (Lisette)

CHARLOTTE MILLS
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Wanamaker Playhouse 2016
Therese Raquin, by Zola, Bath Theatre Royal 2014
The Winter’s Tale, RSC 2013,
Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth, London 2011 (Tanya)

SCOTT KARIM
The Country Wife, Chichester 2018
Young Marx by Richard Bean & Clive Coleman, Bridge Theatre 2017
Imogen (Cymbeline Renamed), Globe 2016
The Merchant of Venice, Globe 2015
Othello, National Theatre, 2013

ASHLEY ZHANGAZHA
Fences by August Wilson, Bath 2013 (Cory)
Henry V, Grandage Season, 2013 (chorus / boy)
Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O’Neill, Young Vic 2015 (Arthur)

MICHAEL ELWYN
Much Ado About Nothing, Old Vic 2013 (Leonato)

NATASHA MAGIGI
Lady Windermere’s Fan, Classic Spring 2018 (Lady Plymdale)
Comus, by Milton, Wanamaker Playhouse, 2016

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        • Spiers & Boden, 6.13
        • Spiers and Boden 2014
        • Steeleye Span
        • Suzanne Vega
        • Symphonic Pink Floyd
        • Taj Mahal
        • The Australian Pink Floyd
        • The Band
        • The Bleedin Noses
        • The Bootleg Beatles 2018
        • The Bootleg Beatles 2022
        • The Cactus Blossoms
        • The Civil Wars
        • The Decemberists
        • The Delines
        • The Demon Barbers
        • The Foundations
        • The Full English
        • The Grand Ole Opry
        • The Imagined Village
        • The Manfreds – 2016
        • The Manfreds 2011
        • The Manfreds, P.P. Arnold 2003
        • The Manfreds, P.P. Arnold, Zoot Money, Nov 2016
        • The Mastersons, Hymn For Her
        • The Mavericks
        • The palmer james group
        • The Platters
        • 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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