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Read Not Dead was launched in 1995 and brings actors, audiences and scholars together to explore and celebrate the plays performed in London and on its stages before 1642. The ground-rules are simple. Actors are given a script on a Sunday morning and work with a director to get the play up on its feet - with entrances and exits, token costume and music if needed. They present it, script in hand, to an audience at 16:00. These are not intended to be polished productions. However, there is a shared spirit of adventure and excitement for actors and audiences who sense that they might be uncovering a hidden gem.The Fancies Chaste and Noble - T0859964849Castamela, the sister of Livio, is persuaded to join the Bower of Fancies, an establishment for young women under the control of Octavio, the marquis of Siena. Livio is appalled: stories of prostitution, lesbianism and sexual extravagance convince the outside world that Octavio is running a sort of harem. But as Octavio's nephew Troylo-Savelli reveals to Livio, the marquis is impotent: all the women within the Bower are safe from assault, and spend their time dancing and singing. Unconvinced, Livio extracts his sister and attempts to marry her to the poor but respectable Romanello. But Castamela's reputation has preceded her, and Romanello rejects her as a whore. Will Castamela ever find a husband after her sojourn in the Bower of Fancies? First performed by Queen Henrietta's Men in 1635-6, The Fancies Chaste and Noble is an entertaining drama of gossip, rumour and sexual double standards. | |
| 6 Sep 15 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L853242438 |
Perkin Warbeck - T1273893976First published in 1634, The Chronicle History of Perkin Warbeck, A Strange Truth was first performed by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Cockpit playhouse in Drury Lane. The scene is England, in the aftermath of the Wars of the Roses. Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch, rules a country exhausted by civil strife. But his position is challenged by the mysterious Perkin Warbeck, who claims he is really Richard IV, one of the Yorkist princes committed to the Tower during the reign of Richard III and never seen again. Is Perkin ? or Richard ? really who he seems? Imposter or rightful king, Perkin sets out to claim the throne, backed by James IV of Scotland and a group of Irish followers. Ford's exceptional history play challenges the Tudor myth, by pitting the more calculating Henry against the compassionate but ultimately ineffectual Warbeck. | |
| 28 Jun 15 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L1733778195 |
The Queen - T01454450787Published anonymously in 1653 before later attribution to Ford, The Queen, or The Excellency of Her Sex, follows Alphonso, the leader of a failed rebellion against the Queen of Aragon, as he is condemned and sentenced to death. The Queen herself intercedes and learns that his hostility stems from a deep-rooted misogyny, and that he cannot bear the thought of being ruled by a woman. But the Queen, having fallen in love with the rebel at first sight, pardons and marries him. As she and her court struggle to persuade the new King from his bitter resentment of the fairer sex, Alphonso himself must contend with his evolving feelings for his wife before the two can be reconciled in blissful matrimony.Author John Ford. | |
| 17 May 15 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L01550961780 |
The Faithful Friends - T01340006994In Rome, best friends Marius and Marcus must use all their wiles to defeat a court conspiracy that seeks their downfall. But who can they trust - when even the King plots to seduce Marcus's chaste wife, the beautiful Philadelphia? Once thought to be by Beaumont and Fletcher, The Faithful Friends successfully reworks the themes of some better-known Jacobean plays including The Maid's Tragedy and Jonson's Roman dramas. This performance is the final Read Not Dead of the Shakespeare & Friendship season.Author Anon. (Published c.1614). | |
| 19 Apr 15 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L0732508197 |
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