THE SCORNFUL LADY

THE SCORNFUL LADY
Read Not Dead at Gray's Inn

23.10.2016

“A pretty hall, this … “ A welcome return visit to the historic Gray's Inn, after this summer's stylish Comedy of Errors.

This Beaumont and Fletcher was first published 400 years ago. It's almost entirely forgotten now, but for many years it was a staple of the comedy repertoire; Sam Pepys was a fan; he saw it several times, both with an actress in the title role and in the original version with a cast of boys.

It was done by one of the very profession children's companies, who boasted among their number specialists in old men [and women], young lovers and everything in between.

The piece was also a favourite with amateur actors, so it was appropriate that this staged reading featured members of the Inn embedded in the cast of players from Shakespeare's Globe. Most notably High Court Judge Sir Michael Burton relishing the role of Abigail - “sweet bratch”, ageing and lecherous maidservant to the Lady in question [Emma Denly]. Sighing, chewing the cud – a posset – he won over his audience with practised ease. As did the “talking nightcap”, Sir Roger the curate [Roger Eastman].

Flighty wenches, merry companions, Savil the Steward [kin to Malvolio], the Loveless brothers [Alex Mugnaioni and James Askill], a cross-dressing suitor [Robert Heard], a trio of hangers-on – a rich cast of characters in a complex, and rather long, intrigue of misogyny, deceit and sexual politics, directed by Read Not Dead regular James Wallace.

NO WIT, NO HELP LIKE A WOMAN'S

NO WIT, NO HELP LIKE A WOMAN'S

Read not Dead at Shakespeare's Globe

04.08.13

It's 1611. Imagine Shakespeare, in London for the première of The Tempest, decides, through curiosity or professional jealousy, to check out the opposition at The Fortune, or one of the many private theatres in the city.

Would he have enjoyed this complicated, but often joyfully scabrous, tragi-comedy from the pen of bricklayer's boy Thomas Middleton ?

With hindsight, he might glimpse the future – a cynical, satirical look at London life that would later become Restoration Comedy. Sir Oliver Twilight, Savourwit, Lady Goldenfleece – you get the picture.

This three-hour rehearsed reading, coordinated by Jason Morell and using a huge cast, gave a pungent flavour of the style. The convoluted plot sees a boy narrowly escape marrying his sister, as a wife dressing as a Gallant Gentleman seeks revenge. Incest, same-sex marriage, given an extra frisson perhaps in the Jacobean theatre by the "boys, smooth-faced catamites" who played all five female roles...

Excellent performances from Abigail McKern as Lady Twilight [and a monoglot Dutch Boy], Ryan Early getting all his laughs as the servant Savourwit, and Michael Matus as Master Weatherwise, whose running Almanac gag was well sustained, right up to the closing lines, in which he shamelessly craves our applause:

The sign's in Gemini too: both hands should meet;
There should be noise i' th' air if all things hap,
Though I love thunder when you make the clap.

Few now know Middleton or his work – we've Shakespeare to thank for that – but it's pleasing to think that his jokes and his ingenious plotting were still capable of delighting a 21^st century audience, deep in the bowels of the Globe, with a performance of The Tempest going on overhead …

GORBODUC

GORBODUC

Read Not Dead at Inner Temple

28.04.13

"Gorboduc, king of Britain, divided his Realm in his lifetime to his Sons, Ferrex and Porrex. The Sons fell to division and dissention. The younger killed the elder. The Mother that more dearly loved the elder, for revenge killed the younger. The people moved with the Cruelty of the fact, rose in Rebellion and slew both father and mother. The Nobility assembled and most terribly destroyed the Rebels. And afterwards for want of Issue of the Prince whereby the Succession of the Crown became uncertain. They fell to Civil war in which both they and many of their Issues were slain, and the Land for a long time almost desolate and miserably wasted."

A unique event.

Norton and Sackville, both members Inner Temple, wrote their play for law students to perform, in their Great Hall, at Christmas 1561, in the presence of the Virgin Queen.

It was the first play in blank verse; it predates Shakespeare and his famous Globe.

Now, when almost nothing remains of London's playhouses, and the Inner Temple Hall, and its Victorian successor, are no more, the lawyers of today have revived the play, under the direction of Oliver Senton [Shakespeare's Globe].

The play itself is wordy, with most of the violent conflict safely offstage. Not unlike the courtroom rhetoric for which it was perhaps considered a ludic apprenticeship. The spirit of misrule which probably enlivened the original was best captured in the dumbshows, with actors and musicians, sometimes masked, charging around, snapping twigs and illustrating the action.

Some excellent performances, though, from Rebecca Todd, on loan from the Globe, as Philander, Nigel Pascoe, QC and playwright, as old Gorboduc, Iain Christie, barrister and professional actor, as Eubulus and Chorus, and Luka Krsljanin, Cambridge actor, as the younger son, Porrex.

THE COURT BEGGAR

THE COURT BEGGAR

Read Not Dead at Shakespeare's Globe

04.11.12

In the round, in the space at the top of the Sackler Studios, Bear Gardens, a "slight piece of mirth" probably first heard at the Cockpit, an indoor house, in 1640.

It's a satirical comedy, with plenty to say about theatre politics, court intrigue, financial scandals and "projectors", as well as the role of women, though Beeston's Boys – the probable troupe for the premiere – naturally boasted no actresses in its numbers.

All credit to Martin Hodgeson and his actors for making this often obscure text so entertaining in this very enjoyable rehearsed reading. Many familiar faces, as ever, with Ben Whitrow highly amusing as Sir Raphael, "an old Knight that talks much and would be thought wise", and Michael Cronin masterly as the Beggar of the title, Sir Andrew Mendicant. Shaun Prendergast made the most of the serving man Gabriel, very at ease with the role, the space and the text. Globe regulars included James Wallace as Sir Ferdinand, Daniel Abelson as a boy constantly on the run, and James Thorne as Mr Dainty. And Frances Marshall, memorable last year in Private Resistance, was a constant delight as Lady Strangelove, "a humorous widow, that loved to be courted".

An intriguing glimpse of theatre just after Shakespeare and just before the theatres closed, to re-open practically unrecognisable at the Restoration.

Just the sort of entertainment which would suit the new Indoor Jacobean space, round the corner in New Globe Walk …