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Vice Versa

Vice Versa

by Phil Porter

vice versa flier

Directed by Janice Honeyman
Designed by Colin Richmond
Music by Sam Kenyon
Lyrics: Phil Porter & Sam Kenyon

Royal Shakespeare Company, The Swan Theatre
Stratford-upon-Avon
Saturday 17th June 2017, 1.30 pm

CAST:
Felix Hayes- General Braggadacio
Sophia Nomvete – Dexter, general’ servant
Steven Kynman – Feclus, general’s servant
Byron Mondahl – Omnivorus, general’s servant
Ellie Bevan – Volupta, general’s concubine
Jon Trenchard – Terence, the general’s  monkey
Nicholas Day – Philoproximus, the general’s neighbour
Laura Kinman – Impetus, servant to Philoproximus
Geoffrey Lumb – Valentin, Volupta’s lover
Kim Hartman – Climax, a prostitute
Bally Gill – Marsupius
Esther Niles – Leandra
Harriet Slater – Meretrix
Katherine Toy- Melodia
Johnson Wilis – Ocadus

MUSIC

Ian Foster- Sousaphone
Max Gittings – Uillean pipes
Samantha Norman – violin
Kevin Waterman – percussion
John Woolf – keyboards

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General Braggadaccio (Felix Hayes) and Dexter (Sophia Nomvete)

It’s hard to credit that Plautus predates the Julius Caesar era by two hundred years.  The programme notes that Roman Comedy evolved from Greek New Comedy. Plautus put a spin on it, introducing songs and dance from native Roman entertainments. Lionel Casson in the introduction to Six Plays of Plautus says that the comparison between Plautus and the Greek original storylines is like My Fair Lady to Pygmalion. The music from Plautus’ plays is lost, but the lyrics survive.

Plautus’ comedy has a long effect from The Comedy of Errors (based on The Menaechmus Twins) to Comedia del Arte (and therefore British pantomime),  Moliére, French farce, and in modern times The Boys From Syracuse, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Carry On Cleo, Up Pompeii. Frankie Howard as Lurcio in the TV series and film was the ultimate Plautus servant, with license to break the fourth wall and conspire with the audience. The TV series grew out of Howard’s role in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, which I once saw on tour with Phil Silvers. Phil Porter’s recent work, playing in the West End this year, is his new version of The Miser, which is Moliére’s L’avare, an updating of Plautus’s The Pot of Gold.

Phil Porter here has gone for a female in the crucial narrator / servant role, Sophia Nomvete as Dexter. She is an inspired choice … she can also sing, dance and is perfect at the audience interaction.

Philp Porter has based this play on The Boastful Soldier, with ideas imported from other Plautus plays and a lot of his own plotting.  Up Pompeii’s name Lurcio came from The Boastful Soldier. Having a monkey as a major character became a pantomime device … Dick Whittington’s cat, or Mother Goose. There is an elaborate painted set (as in  a pantomime) and costumes have been carefully made funnier with anachronisms. The General has Superman socks in his sandals in Act One, Venus de Milo socks in Act Two. The cast of slaves and ensemble have blotchy faces, blacked out teeth. Feclus (Stephen Kynman) is just like the unfortunate handyman, Colin, in the 1990s TV sit com, Brittass Empire, so much so that we wondered if that was a conscious or unconscious source for Phil Porter (and why not).

Screen-Shot-2017-06-05-at-10-1.26.52

General Braggadaccio (Felix Hayes) centre arrives to applause

We’re in Rome. General Braggadacio (Felix Hayes) has a staff of slaves, Dexter, Feclus and Omnivorus plus a monkey. His next door neighbour (the classic elderly man) is Philoproximus (Nicholas Day). Think of the abandoned siblings plays of Shakespeare and how they need an introduction (Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night and also The Tempest). Dexter does this back story with the other servants using a washing line with the appropriate clothes hanging on it to explain what happened. Dexter was a servant to Volupta and Valentin, but they were captured by pirates. Dexter and Volupta were sold to the general. Valentin was lost.

 

But now Valentin has turned up to stay with old family friend, Philoproximus next door. Volupta and Valentin meet up by travelling across the roof (the Swan balcony) to make love. They’re spotted in the act by Feclus who determines to tell his master. Dexter has an idea. Volupta will claim to have a lost identical twin, Drusilla, who is Greek. It is Drusilla who is screwing Valentin. I loved this plot line … neatly reversing the expected twins story by introducing a fake twin. This all leads to many misunderstandings. Act Two is how Dexter and Volupta and the other slaves can force the general to free them so they can escape with Valentin.

Vice-Versa-Production-Photos_-2017_2017_Photo-by-Pete-Le-May-_c_-RSC_219616

L to R: Valentin (Geoffrey Lumb), Dexter (Sophia Nomvete), Philoproximus (Nicholas Day)

Valentin (Geoffrey Lumb) is the nice, constantly smiling, but extremely thick hero. Volupta (Elie Bevan) is the ideal blonde heroine playing the double role with a heavy Greek accent as Drusilla. She uses the classic device of throwing in any Greek word, such as feta.  Feclus and Omnivorus (Byron Mondahl), the male slaves, are a carrot-topped and hilarious double act.  They’re all aided in their efforts to fool the general by Philoproximus, who engages Climax, a prostitute to win the general’s affections. The trouble is, his address book is thirty years old, and she is now a raddled but pregnant hag (a hilarious performance by … and I shall say this only once … Kim Hartman from ‘Allo ‘Allo). The general (Felix Hayes) and his neighbour Philoproximus (Nicholas Day) were both in the 2011 and 2012 RSC seasons together through five plays.

vice-versa-production-photos_-2017_2017_photo-by-pete-le-may-_c_-rsc_219787.tmb-img-1824

Volupta (Ellie Bevan) and the General (Felix Hayes)

One of the highlights comes in Act Two, when Ocadus (geddit) delivers a huge crate of groceries, which Dexter has to distribute at high speed with a pun for every item which she hands to Feclus and Omnivorus (wine, quail, corn, wafers, ham):

While you were gone … no doubt WINEing about our play, QUAILing at its CORNy jokes and WAFER thin HAMmy characters …

vice-versa-production-photos_-2017_2017_photo-by-pete-le-may-_c_-rsc_219721.tmb-img-1824

The slaves and the Ocadus delivery. L to R: Feclus (Steven Kynman), Dexter (Sophia Nomvete), Omnivorus (Byron Mondahl) … Act 2 “fungi” for “fun guy”

She got a well-deserved round of applause at the end of it, and the programme says the play has the greatest number of props ever used at the RSC. As she does this at such speed, picking up the items they must be so carefully arranged inside the crate,

vice-versa-production-photos_-2017_2017_photo-by-pete-le-may-_c_-rsc_219784.tmb-img-1824

Music from The Monkees, sorry, Monkeys

Music is vital. The big production number that opens Act Two Till You’ve Seen Rome is worthy of a major musical with an array of funny costumes, foot scooters labelled Vespa, a huge plate of spaghetti, Italian flags, funny waiters. The music with horn amplified violin, squeezebox, Sousaphone is played by musicians in monkey costumes, and Sousaphone is an intrinsically funny instrument, providing a lead melody line at times, “live” farting at others.

There is also a most welcome return of the pre-show at The Swan. As we take our seats, an artist(Johnson Willis, also Ocadus) is drawing audience members (with an emphasis on members) and a guy is trying to sell fake jewellery while we get cheerful music from violin and piano accordion.

vice-versa-production-photos_-2017_2017_photo-by-pete-le-may-_c_-rsc_219662.tmb-img-1824

L to R: Philoproximus, Volupta pretending to be Drusilla, The Monkey (Jon Trenchard), Feclus, General Braggadacio

It’s not so much a laugh a minute, as a laugh every five seconds. Rather like Phil Porter’s version of The Miser (with Lee Mack & Griff Rhys Jones) there is an aspect where it becomes slightly relentless, but that is the genre. Every character is BIG and BROAD, which is just what Plautus was like. It does veer to pantomime often (though ruder than most), but then pantomime is another descendant of Roman comedy. There are references to Donald Trump.  The general plans to “build the city walls higher and make Rome great again!” but that “and make (X) great again” line is obligatory in comedy in 2017. It always gets the laugh too. I bought the play script … the RSC does it at a knockdown £4.99 and hopefully sells lots. Chichester has been doing scripts at £9.99 and selling few. The Royal Court is even cheaper than the RSC and it replaces the programme. Anyway, I can’t find the line there, so I’m glad to see that the text evolves with performance, as it should with broad comedy. The general declares at the end “Infamy! Infamy … All of you are against me!” This is a well-known quote. Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar confronted by Brutus and the plotters in Carry On Cleo … “Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me.” I would point out that “against me” isn’t funny. It has to be “in for me.” However, maybe it’s an intentional switch to confound those of us who were finishing the line in our heads. In this sort of play, with brilliant comic actors, I’d expect to go back at the end of the run and find other additions and bits of business.

Our two major reviewers suggest that the RSC might try an original Plautus for a change. Back to Lionel Casson quoted above:

(Plautus) did his level best to make (the audience) laugh from the belly. Without a second thought he would interrupt the flow of the action for a scene of pure slapstick or for a series of lowbrow jokes; he made up broadly comic names to label his characters; he explained every turn of the plot to make sure the slowest wits could follow it; he even explained the jokes to make sure everyone got them. At all costs he kept the plot and action boiling, the stream of gags and puns and comic alliterations flowing.(Lionel Casson “Six Plays of Plautus”)

I would say that Phil Porter captures the spirit of Plautus perfectly for a modern audience. If you did an original Plautus straight, you’d have to add the missing music and dance back in. You’d need to commission a new literal translation first, then depart from it to create a new script. For certain, contemporary references would have been added to fit the week the Romans were seeing a play. Vice Versa does all that.

The only reduction from a full marks review is that necessarily the true shock of unexpected comedy isn’t there. The jokes are predictable, but that’s true of pantomime. It’s a bit like Christmas cracker jokes … foreigners can’t grasp that the appeal of them is the groan of recognition. We love that.

Fabulous cast. Flat out ensemble playing. Four stars (plus a bit, but not quite five)

****
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

4
Michael Billington, The Guardian ****
Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times, ****
Michael Davies, What’sonstage ****
Anne Cox, Stage Review, ****
James Garrington, Reviews Hub, ****
3
Domenic Cavendish, Telegraph, ***
2
Dominic Maxwell, The Times **
Ben Kulvicht, The Stage **

There’s something unsettling about watching a prostitute mocked for her age, or a woman dressed in a translucent Orientalist costume adopting an exaggerated foreign accent, played for comic effect.

Oh, dear. Well, I laughed myself silly.

LINKS ON THIS BLOG:

PHIL PORTER
The Miser, by Moliére,  adapted by Sean Foley & Phil Porter, 2017
A Mad World My Masters, RSC 2013 Edited by Sean Foley & Phil Porter

FELIX HAYES
The Tempest, RSC 2012 (Trinculo)
Twelfth Night, RSC 2012 (Fabian)
Comedy of Errors, RSC 2012 (Dromio of Ephesus)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, RSC 2011 (Snug)
The City Madam, RSC 2011 (Mr Plenty)
Cardenio, RSC 2011 (Shepherd)

SOPHIA NOMVETE
As You Like It, Globe 2013 (Audrey)
Noises Off, Nuffield, 2016 (Brooke Ashton)

NICHOLAS DAY
The Tempest, RSC 2012 (Gonzalo)
Twelfth Night, RSC 2012 (Sir Toby Belch)
Comedy of Errors, RSC 2012 (Egeon)
The City Madam, RSC 2011 (Lord Lacy)
Cardenio, RSC 2011 (Don Bernado)
Platonov, Chichester 2015 (Col. Triletsky)

BYRON MONDAHL
Salomé, RSC 2017
King Lear, RSC 2016 (Oswald)
Cymbeline, RSC 2016 (Philario)
Hamlet, RSC 2016 (Professor, Ambassador)

JON TRENCHARD
Salomé, RSC 2017
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, RSC 2016 (Philostrate)

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        • 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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