Costume and Cosmetics at the Globe 

Delivered in partnership with King’s College London, our MA in Shakespeare Studies offers exciting and unparalleled opportunities for Shakespeare students. Drawing on the joint expertise of Shakespeare’s Globe and King’s, students learn about the texts, companies and theatre spaces of early modern playhouses, just a stone’s throw from where Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed.

Current MA student Kate Bauer reflects on discovering how costume and cosmetics are used at the Globe.

Even as the sun begins to linger a little longer in the evenings, our classes with the Shakespeare’s Globe have finally walked off into the sunset.

Well, it certainly sounds like I’ve been reading too many sonnets recently.

Moving over from Ireland to study this course has been one of the best decisions of my life and has expanded my mind in all things Shakespearean whilst making some wonderful connections along the way! Even after finding out we Irish ‘savages’ are not so nicely referenced in most sixteenth-century drama, I found this to be a wonderfully welcoming experience delving into the world of Shakespeare.

Costumes and clothes have always been an integral part of staging Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Having worked on some of the very first Globe productions, costume designer Hattie Barsby allowed us quite literally to step into the garments of the past in her session on Dressing Shakespeare’s Actors! She showed our class the exceptional design and craftsmanship that goes into each item, and who doesn’t love a good dress-up?

We ended our wonderful term on Staging Shakespeare in Early Modern Playhouseswith a seminar on cosmetics in the early modern period. Dr Farah Karim Cooper, Head of Higher Education and Research, began with an insightful lecture followed by a make-up demonstration given by Pam Humpage. She showed us how to apply the cosmetics used in ‘Original Practices’ productions at the Globe which aim to only use products available at the time. Their research of the period is coupled with their creative handiwork to manufacture a possible glimpse into the past.

Farah highlighted the constant debate surrounding make-up in the period; Elizabethans loved a natural, glowing complexion but often looked down upon a woman making use of products, such as crushed pearl or even deadly ingredients like lead, to achieve such an appearance. My personal favourite trick was how women painted blue veins on to their necks – make-up enthusiasts please take note!

Feeding this workshop into our research was hugely supportive as we studied the early modern attitude to how ‘the clothes doth make the man’ and how your clothes designated your social position.

Carrying on into the new summer season, this notion of the clothes making the man is even more exciting when we consider the current productions of Hamletand As You Like It.

Michelle Terry, the Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe, leads the cast of Hamlet in the titular role, playing the Prince of Elsinore himself. A male actor, Shubham Saraf steps into the watery shoes of Hamlet’s love, the fair Ophelia. Many of the great roles in the two productions are similarly ‘cross-cast’ which creates an exciting opportunity for the audience to see a fresh side to this iconic play.

Deaf actor, Nadia Nadarajah, speaking of taking on the role of Hamlet’s pal Guildenstern, says there is ‘Shakespearean English and British Sign Language wrestling to find a fit’ in this production. This inclusion of a wider area of communicative methods reflects the growing concern for representation on the Shakespearean stage.

For further reading on cosmetics and clothing in the early modern period see:

Ann Rosalind Jones and Peter Stallybrass, Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory (Cambridge University Press, 2000)

Farah Karim-Cooper, Cosmetics in Shakespearean and Renaissance Drama (Edinburgh University Press, 2006)

Applications for the MA in Shakespeare Studies starting in September 2018 are now open. Read more and make your application.

Play fighting: On stage fight choreography 

In this new blog series Fight Director Yarit Dor will reveal how she works with actors to make fight scenes look realistic, whilst keeping everyone safe.

Hi, I’m Yarit and I’m part of the Globe Ensemble (performing Hamlet and As You Like It) as Fight Director. I wanted to share some of my process on Hamlet and As You Like It this season.

With the Globe Ensemble our mutual aim was to discover EVERYTHING in the rehearsal room. The actors inspire the work and decisions can be made as a collective therefore I decided to be there everyday rather than only coming in for fight sessions. That allowed me to be present in the full development and to be there when the actors explore scenes that have or might have violent interactions. Similar to Ellan (designer) who sketched in their notebook, I started to write down things that I saw: any physical impulses that they had, spatial pathways they were naturally using, games; props they were taking from the pile etc. That taught me a lot about how they view their character’s journey in that scene and why they need to use violence.

I snuck away at different points during the day and went into an empty room where I started brainstorming ideas on huge Post-It notes.

Hamlet’s fight brainstorming

Michelle, Bettrys, Ellan and I had a session of brainstorming where we chatted about the graveyard scene and the last fencing scene. We all wrote some words on a big Post-It and discussed the storytelling behind the action.  
Since the rehearsals were done in the order of the play, we would get to the fencing scene much later so it was essential for me to start teaching them a choreography that leaves space for the actresses to explore events, emotions and intent. Hearing them speak and analyse their character’s journey gave a direction for the action. Then after the rehearsal day I’d meet my Assistant, share thoughts with him and start to tailor moves.

As You Like It fight brainstorming

Our fight sessions happened much later in the process. Since the two main fights in the play are right in the first Act, I had a chance to see them playing with those scenes a couple of times. Also by the time we had our first fight session we’ve already worked through most of the play so I knew what kind of movement language overall was beginning to form itself - puppetry, animal work etc.  Therefore when Richard, Bettrys and I had our brainstorming session we all knew what style of language is required. In that session Richard came up with the ending and then we constructed it from end to start in theory and agreed on the storytelling of the fight. With Shubham and Bettrys we played some physical games and they shared stories of how they used to fight with their siblings so we used some of those concepts in the Orlando verses Oliver fight.

Words: Yarit Dor 

Read Not Dead remembered: what have I learned?

In this, my final blog about Read Not Dead, I’ll be reflecting on finishing my six-month research fellowship and what I learned from collecting data about over 200 plays. It’s flown by in a whirl of numbers and spreadsheets as I try to keep a handle on what, at times, feels like an absurd weight of information. But in between inputting dates, venues, authors, and performances, I’ve had the chance to consider some wider issues about Shakespeare’s world.

The first thing that comes across – overwhelmingly at times – is the true richness and sheer productivity of the theatre scene in Renaissance London. We estimate that around 3,000 plays were written and performed between 1567 and 1642 and while the majority of them don’t survive, the explosion of the London theatre scene in this period is truly astonishing. As the number of theatres increased, the number of audience members nearly doubled between 1574 and 1624 from 200,000 to almost 400,000. All those people aren’t going to want to see repeats of the same plays over and over (just as we don’t want to see our TV schedules filled up with re-runs), so the demand for new plays was unprecedented.

One of the questions I got asked during this project was in response to my claim that Read Not Dead exposes audiences to rarely-performed plays which turn out to be hidden gems: surely some of these plays have been forgotten for a reason? Presumably there are some plays which, when resurrected, aimlessly flop right back down again? And of course, the honest answer to this is: yes. There are absolutely some dreadful Renaissance plays. But I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t provide us with something – be it a good joke, an insight into the social tensions of the era, a motif that keeps recurring through the works of a particular writer, or even just a bit of story-telling acted by enthusiastic performers.

For me, it’s this last example that really sticks with me, because we so often overlook the value of so-called ‘mediocrity’. Not every piece of theatre has to be a masterpiece for it to be important or insightful or simply enjoyable. Sometimes you just want a bit of entertainment for a couple of hours, and that’s fine. In the days before TV, cinema, and Netflix, theatres were where you went for your entertainment. On some days, you’ll appreciate a heart-rending, cathartic tragedy which ponders the meaning of existence; on some days, you’ll want a sophisticated gender farce; often you might just be in the mood for a spot of surface-level escapist melodrama.

There is often a sense within the canon of English literature that the cultural outputs that come down to us from previous generations are products of a kind of social Darwinism: a survival-of-the-fittest which is essentially self-perpetuating in its logic. The thought process of ‘This is the selection of plays which we still have scripts for, so they must have been the best ones otherwise they’d have been forgotten’ quickly extends to ‘Shakespeare’s plays are performed most often, therefore they must be the best’. The value of Read Not Dead is that it allows us to look beyond the limits of canonicity and traditional popularity, enabling us to reassess examples of popular entertainment within the unique environment of Shakespeare’s Globe. The database on which I’ve been working will be a lasting record of this and will help keep our explorations in play-making not just ‘read not dead’, but alive and kicking.

Read Miranda’s previous blogs about Read Not Dead -  Data collecting dispatches from the front line, or ‘HOW many recorded performances of The Jew of Malta?’and Keeping Read Not Dead alive.

Leaving school and want to work at the Globe? On being a Globe Education Assistant

Our Globe Education Assistant roles offer school leavers an exciting opportunity to gain invaluable experience working in a leading arts organisation. Through supporting the daily activities of the Education department for one year, they develop key skills in administration, communication and team work in a supportive environment, and make a valuable contribution to the work of the Globe.

Here Dorothy McDowell, a Globe Education Assistant in the Learning Projects team, talks about her experiences of the programme so far.

In my last two years at school, I switched my choice of degree subject once; country of study twice; and actual university roughly every hour, on the hour - but the idea of a gap year never seriously occurred to me. I like drama, I like books and I like writing: it was university or bust. Then, in the middle of my sentence of death-by-prolonged-study-leave, my mother suddenly turned round, job advert column in hand, and said:

“Would you fancy working at the Globe Theatre?”

The answer to this was an unequivocal ‘yes’ – I come from a small village in rural Northern Ireland, and anyone familiar with small villages in rural Northern Ireland will tell you that the nearest thing they have to an arts industry is a country-and-western tribute act, and a slightly contentious marching band. So, I threw my mind back to summer holidays spent standing in the rain at arts festivals trying to persuade visitors not to touch the cows; raked up a few anecdotes; and applied.

I then spent the next month determinedly telling people that I didn’t actually expect to get the job and I just thought it would be funny to apply, okay? This became slightly more challenging when I got an email inviting me to a Skype interview; followed by a second invitation, to fly over to London; and finally a phone call telling me that I had got the job. I am now the proud owner of the title of ‘Globe Education Assistant – Learning Projects (Community)’; I have a place at Oxford; I have seen 38 shows since September; and if you sit still for long enough I will recite a brief performance history of All’s Well That Ends Well at you.

When people ask me what my job entails, I find the best approach is to check they don’t have anywhere urgent they need to be before I start. It is so varied a concise answer is almost impossible.

Some days I type up so many spreadsheets that I am able to astound people with my encyclopaedic knowledge of the differing views on Oberon as held by the under 5s; other days I hear myself saying things like, “Please can you mind this drum I’m going to the basement to look for some confetti and a lion mask”.

The project that’s uppermost in my mind at the moment is the famed ‘Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank’. In the course of the pre-show marketing I called and spoke to almost every Special Educational Needs school in London which helped increase the number of pupils with special educational needs who were able to attend the show.

My role during the actual run of the show was to hand out programmes to the assembled school groups – a job which began with a radio call that could be roughly translated as, “More children than you can possibly imagine have just arrived on the Southbank” and ended with me running up and down Bankside in a high-vis jacket.

But my absolute favourite bit of the job is the Southwark Youth Theatre. I am their Company Manager, and spend Saturday mornings alternating between joining in with their drama games (at which I am unforgivably terrible) and getting myself heard above their excited hubbub.

On reflecting on my role at the Globe I find myself uncharacteristically soppy. There is much to be said for the sight of children who have never been in a theatre before standing onstage in A Concert for Winter, or for classes of teenagers cheering for Beatrice and Benedick. Ten months ago I had never set foot in the Globe Theatre. I am not intrepid; I am not well-connected; I had never had a job before. I applied for this on a whim; something I would like to do, but something I did not think I had a chance of getting.

Two months later, I stood on the banks of the River Thames - with the moon rising in the background, and St Paul’s reflected in the water behind me - looking up at the most beautiful theatre in the world.

From Studio to Stage: Creating fights in Hamlet and As You Like It

Yarit Dor is part of the Globe Ensemble, (performing Hamlet andAs You Like It) as Fight Director. Here she concludes her blog series to tell you more about how she keeps the actors safe and creates fights that still make you wince to watch.

Once I brainstorm with the actors I then go away and do some work on my own. Like any designer of sorts “fight designing” has an element of solitude to it. 

Hamlet and As You Like It are not set in a specific time or era and this timeless aspect opens up a range of styles, research, and opportunities. I wanted the fights to support that by taking styles from different eras. 

As You Like It
The wrestling match has a mixture of wrestling ‘tastes’ in it. Some moves or concepts such as Medieval wresting are from Talhoffer and Meyer (15th and 16th-century fencing experts); some are Greek/Roman and some are more ‘contemporary show-off’ wrestling moves. We devised all the moves that emphasise the abilities of the actors and their ideas of storytelling earlier on. 

The rope came alive to fit with the overall style of the semi-physical-theatre like elements such as the sheep and the deer which come later on in the play. 

Hamlet
‘To Block or not to block’ - as part of the concept of actors owning and creating their own material, we tried to find a way for the ensemble to ‘improvise’ violent physical interactions that could change from one performance to the other. And so physical moments that you might find between Ophelia and Hamlet or Ophelia and Claudius explored by the actors in that performance might not repeat themselves if you see another show. To facilitate that kind of exploration we did a session looking at stage combat vocabulary, safety concepts and their installment: how to redirect someone’s energy or shift them to a safer space, how to go with but still look like you are resisting, styles of contact, body positions, tension levels etc. 

When the general direction was that the last scene would feel like a ‘Tudorish’ sporting event, rapier & dagger were a joy to work with (and a favourite of mine) my research was then based on a time-mix between Vincentio Saviolo, Giacomo di Grassi, Salvator Fabris and Nicoletto Giganti who were all Italian sword-masters in and around the 16th and 17th centuries. There is much more sword-point based work in the two first phrases, rhythm changes and less ‘swashbuckly’ flair moves you may find in some productions or movies. Cuts and slashes were integrated more towards the end when Hamlet and Laertes start losing control and the line between sport and fight gets blurry. We decided not to have curved pathways around the pillars or through the courtiers in order to allow the non-fighting actors free movement around the fight and for Osric to manoeuvre himself. They’ve done brilliantly and it’s always an inspiration to see two actresses fight with blades in such an emotional rollercoaster of a play.

#TwoNobleKinsmen - Curated tweets by The_Globe

The Two Noble Kinsmen in pictures 

Described variously as ‘zesty’, ‘delightfully inventive and blissfully clear’ ‘colourful, creative and uplifting’  The Two Noble Kinsmen is on stage until 30 June. 

Your chance to be a Globe Education Assistant 

Our Globe Education Assistant roles offer school leavers an exciting opportunity to gain invaluable experience working in a leading arts organisation. Through supporting the daily activities of the Education department for one year, they develop key skills in administration, communication and team work in a supportive environment, and make a valuable contribution to the work of the Globe.

We are currently looking for school leavers who would like to develop careers in the arts or education for our Globe Education Assistant roles. For a full job description and to apply, please visit the Jobs page of our website.

The deadline for applications is Monday 4 June at 5pm.

Shiri Fileman, a Globe Education Assistant in the Events team, shares her experiences of working at the Globe. 

I’m not sure there are adequate words to describe what my time at the Globe has been like so far. If you are thinking of becoming a Globe Education Assistant (GEA) read on to get the inside scoop.

To give you some context, I stumbled across this role whilst in my first year of applying to drama schools, and immediately pounced on the idea that this could be my job for a whole year.

I work in the Events team, and we deal with all public events. This can range from the Read Not Dead staged readings, lectures on a myriad of topics and Family Storytelling Festivals. No one day is the same, and the challenges can range from running a production on one of the most beautiful stages, to ensuring there are enough pizzas for everyone to eat (don’t worry as a GEA you get pizza too). The variety of work I do is so huge and exciting, I find it hard not to brag about my job to everyone I meet.

Recently, the Events team finished working with the Higher Education team to put on the Sam Wanamaker Festival. This is an enormous celebration of all the UK, and some International Drama Schools, who come together to perform Shakespeare and his contemporaries on the Globe Stage. It is a crazy weekend full of learning, fun, and lots of hummus, KitKats and wine. I was on my feet constantly, but have never left a weekend at work with a bigger grin on my face. There were so many hilarious moments, and I got to know the students really well. It’s something else to experience that festival and be in that space.

However, this job isn’t just exclusive to performers or people who want to make a career out of performing. You will be working with and hosting lecturers in Shakespeare Studies from universities all over the world, talking to them and listening to their research.

One of the most incredible things about working at the Globe is the fantastic people who work around you. Everyone has such a unique background and brings something immensely special to the building. You always feel surrounded by endless heaps of talent.

There is never a moment when you are the child of the team, or treated any differently. You are an integral part of the building and everyone treats you that way. I’m not sure I’ve gone a single day without being greeted by smiles in every doorway, (or when making the tenth tea of the day in the Green Room). Of course I am biased, but my team is made up of the most incredible individuals who constantly amaze me with their kindness and talent.

We are now on the magical adventure of the Summer Season. We have dived head first into the bulk of the events calendar, with fantastic panels and discussions on censorship in theatre with leading producers, academics and actors, followed by the Read Not Dead readings, Q&As, talks and study courses, all before tumbling into the huge Shakespeare’s Telling Tales family storytelling festival. And that’s just up to July!

This job gives you so many transferable skills. As someone who wants to act, much of my life and career will be uncertain from here in. I thought I had a step-by-step plan for my life, and if that had actually worked out I’d never have made it to where I am now. The Globe has given me so many things that can I can take to all walks of life, and help me feel prepared to go on to do whatever I want to do.

One of the most useful skills I now have is finance management. I honestly thought I would never understand finance, but a big part of my job is managing expenditure and income and ensuring that everything is accounted for. If you read the word finance and started internally crying, don’t worry. I felt the same way and it isn’t the whole job. There are so many other fun parts too.  I’m only at my desk about half of the time and there can never be a dull moment. In my first week I was ironing sheets for a play in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, and in the second I was ordering a fluffy hedgehog ornament online. His name is Hedgely and he is very cute. He has now taken up permanent residence in the office. 

As a very untidy person I found having such responsibilities has helped me really find out how I work and know what is best for me.

This job has been the most amazing few months thus far. I have laughed so hard I have had to lie down from my belly hurting and cried from being so moved by the amazing work that I get to do.

Cast announced for Othello

We are delighted to announce the full casting for this summer’s Othello, opening Friday 20 July in the Globe Theatre. 

Sheila Atim will play Emilia.

CatherineBailey will play Bianca and Doge of Venice.

William Chubb will play Brabantio and Montano.

SteffanDonnelly will play Roderigo

AndréHolland will play Othello.

Micah Loubon is Chorus.

IraMandelaSiobhan also joins as Chorus.

AaronPierre will play Cassio.

MarkRylance will play Iago.

Clemmie Sveaas is Chorus.

Badria Timimi will play Lodovica.

JessicaWarbeck will play Desdemona. 

Melancholy in As You Like It

Ahead of our As You Like ItStudy Day on Saturday 9 June, Research Coordinator Jen Edwards puts Shakespeare’s famously melancholic subject in context…

‘They say you are a melancholy fellow’, says Rosalind when she encounters Jacques in the forest, to which he replies ‘I am so: I do love it better than laughing’. Melancholy held a curious fascination for Shakespeare: from the philosophical Jacques to the grieving Hamlet, the ‘melancholic’ subject is one that manifests itself a variety of forms. And, as Jacques tells us, the list is by no means exhaustive:

I have neither the scholar’s melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician’s, which is fantastical; nor the courtier’s, which is proud; nor the soldier’s, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer’s, which is politic; nor the lady’s which is nice; nor the lover’s, which is all these…

Melancholy was also something that fascinated Renaissance physicians. Following the theories of Greek philosopher and surgeon Galen, a ‘healthy’ body was understood as one that held in balance four different fluids or ‘humours’: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile, all of which were associated with different seasons, parts of the body and phases of life.

Image: Leonhart Thurneisser, ‘The Four Humours’ 1574.

The balance of these humours, according to Galen, could affect how you felt: too much yellow bile could make you choleric and angry; too much black bile could make you melancholy. Constantly in flux, these humours were thought to alter both physical and mental wellbeing, as well as reflecting a person’s relationship to their environment. As the early moderns understood it, melancholy could be caused by any number of external factors - from divine or demonic influence, to drinking too much hot wine. In this model, the body could be seen as being in lovely interaction with the world, but also at risk from it.

The seminar session on Saturday 9 June will explore the mysteries of (and indeed anxieties about) the body in As You Like It and the Renaissance world more broadly: how it could change or be changed, what made it healthy or sick, and, crucially, whether it should be open to the world around it, or keep a safe distance. Understanding illness as a product of things being out of balance, this seminar considers the steps taken in As You Like It to see that balance is restored.

Give me leave
To speak my mind, and I will through and through
Cleanse the foul body of th’ infected world,
If they will patiently receive my medicine…

(As You Like It 2.7)

Find out more about the humours, gender and As You Like It at our upcoming Study Day

Research in Action: Laughter and madness in Commedia dell’Arte and English stage comedy

Do you know me my lord?
Excellent well. You are a fishmonger.

Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2) 

How do you react when you watch scenes from early modern dramatic works containing comic portrayals of frenzied, distracted or apparently ‘mad’ figures?

We are undertaking a research project aimed at investigating the relationship between laughter and power. We want to know more about the way laughter in the early modern theatre reflected and produced dynamics of power in early modern culture. What are the dramatic consequences of those dynamics? And how do the dynamics differ today?

On Monday 11 June at 6pm join us for a Research in Action workshop that explores present-day audience responses to scenes from early modern dramatic works containing comic portrayals of frenzied, distracted or apparently ‘mad’ figures.

We’ll be looking at extracts from the Commedia dell’Arte scenario ‘The madness of Isabella’ by Flaminio Scala, and The Honest Whore Part 1, by Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton. We’re interested in investigating how different styles of performance influence an audience’s emotional attitude to these ‘mad’ characters. When, for instance, do audiences laugh? When do they feel uncomfortable – perhaps about their own laughter?

We’ll unpick different interpretations of the symptoms of madness that these two works present: from tragic expression of despair, to comic physical awkwardness, and verbal nonsense.

Cast includes: Jamie Askill, Beth Park, Ruth Siller, Tok Stephen and James Wallace.

Exploring audience response to representation of madness on the early modern stage with Dr Bridget Escolme, Dr Maria Turri and Dr Will Tosh on 11 June. 

Globe on Tour: The Taming of the Shrew in production.

Our Globe on Tour cast are giving you the chance to choose the play you see performed. At Chilham Castle in Kent the audience chose to see The Taming of the Shrew from a selection that also included The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night. 

Find your nearest tour venue.

Photo credit: Marc Brenner 

The Winter’s Tale in rehearsal.

Blanche McIntyre directs Shakespeare’s great play of the irrational and inexplicable. In a fit of groundless jealousy, Leontes wrecks his marriage, defies the gods, destroys his family and ruins himself. As the years roll around, a new generation flee their own country and take refuge in Sicilia. Unknowingly they bring with them the key to the past, present and future…

The Winter’s Tale opens Friday 22 June.

Photography by Marc Brenner

Realising the Design.

James Perkins is the costume designer for this year’s production for The Winter’s Tale. In the run up to opening night he’s given us an insight into what work goes into dressing the cast, and the dangers of being enthusiastic about fabric.

Yesterday I got stuck in a costume.

It was like that moment you try on a ring, slide it past a knuckle and then realise, eyes wide, that you might need some soap.

Except it wasn’t a ring, and I couldn’t solve it with soap, it was a tailor-made irreplaceable pink overshirt, at work, with my new colleagues watching.

We have one in-house and one freelance costume supervisor. They transform my pencil drawings into beautiful reality. We’ve bought fabric from all over London, £3 per metre from Shepherds Bush Market vs appointment-only haberdasheries that sell one-off pieces of vintage embroidery. It’s not until you find and (importantly) touch the fabrics that you know what the costumes will really look like… I think that’s why I wanted to wear the shirt.

Our bespoke items have been sewn by a team of freelance makers. They all start from my drawings, yet their expertise means we have costumes that are both rich in detail as well as wearably practical.

Costume fittings, and the conversations that surround them, are a vital part of the process. The character, and therefore costume, belong to the actor. We can help and suggest and lead but the notes that cut to the core of the character’s identity will nearly always come from the actor.

We’re only halfway through fittings, but between the intelligence and wit of the cast and the support and wisdom of the costume team I’m quietly confident that the end result will be excellent.

I got the shirt off, eventually, with some help.

Tomorrow we’ll see if it fits an actor better…

 The Winter’s Tale opens Friday 22 June.

Images by James Perkins 

Winter 2018/19 at Shakespeare’s Globe

This winter we invite you to play by candlelight in the gilded beauty of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as we look to the past in order to question the present.

In our first festival of the season – ‘Ambitious Fiends’ – we pair Macbeth, Shakespeare’s meditation on the corrosive nature of power, with Christopher Marlowe’s pact made between the devil and Doctor Faustus.  

In the new year, we find ourselves ‘On the Shoulders of Ghosts’ as we turn our gaze to notions of identity, sexuality, desire and power in Richard II and Edward II.

We invite today's writers to respond to Shakespeare and Marlowe with a range of new writing. Dark Night of the Soul is a collection of writing by women responding to the Faustian bargain, whilst After Edward regards the king with a queer eye.

Ralegh: The Treason Trial is an immersive verbatim account of the trial of an Elizabethan hero, performed 415 years after it shocked the nation. Before a short run in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, you can catch it in Winchester Great Hall, the location of the original trial.

Looking forward, Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank, our production for young people, will share the story of the tragic romance of Romeo and Juliet.

Our Read Not Dead series continues to shed light on rarely performed plays including Edward I by George Peele, and we have Macbeth and Henry V storytelling and workshops for families. 

Special events include Armistice Day, marking 100 years since the end of the First World War, and our Winter Wassail, a festive celebration of the season.  

Join us this winter as we explore stories from the past, the ghosts of then, and the storytellers from yesteryear, and simultaneously, collectively, create the ghosts of ‘tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow’. 

What’s past is prologue
The Tempest, Act II, scene 1

Become a Member to access priority booking

• Advance priority booking for Patrons: Wednesday 20 June, 10.00am
• Priority booking for all Friends and Best Friends: Monday 25 June, 10.00am
• Public booking: Monday 16 July,10.00am
  

Background research for Nanjing

Jude Christian is the writer of and sole performer in Nanjing.

In 1937 the Japanese army invaded China and took control of the then capital city, Nanjing. The Massacre of Nanjing, frequently referred to as the Rape of Nanking, resulted in the murder of thousands of Chinese citizens.
Jude is British-Chinese, born and raised in England. She was motivated to share her personal feelings on the massacre, and through this to make the audience reflect on atrocities of the past, how they resonate today and also reflect on current conflict in the world.

This highly personal performance has involved a lot of research and conversations with Jude’s family. Here are a selection of images taken by Jude on her research trips to Malaysia and the Isle of Man where her two sets of grandparents live.

This week Jude read this article which made her want to rewrite the play to incorporate it! She said “ I think it makes a good point that it’s important to call out hypocrisy and ugliness in the people we want to hold up as paragons of virtue.”

Further Reading:

Here is a list of books and films that formed part of Jude’s research for Nanjing.

The Undaunted Women of Nanking: The Wartime Diaries of Minnie Vautrin and Tsen Shui-fang (2010, Hua-ling Hu, Zhang Lian-hong)

American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking: The Courage of Minnie Vautrin (2000, Hua-ling Hu)

The Rape of Nanking (1991, Iris Chang)

The Diary of Azuma Shiro (2006, Kimberly Hughes)

The Making of the Rape of Nanking (2006, Takashi Yoshida)

Forgotten Armies: The Fall of British Asia 1941-1945 (2005, Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper)

The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe (1998, John E. Woods)

Documents on the Rape of Nanking (1999, Timothy Brook)

The Gift of Rain (2007, Tan Twan Eng)

Nanking (2007 documentary, Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman)

John Rabe (2010 film, Florian Gallenberger)

Nanjing will run from 22-24 June, part of Refugee Week.  

The Great Get Together 

“What is the city but the people?”
Coriolanus, A3, s1

On Sunday 24 June Bankside Open Spaces Trust invite you to join the local community at this year’s Great Get Together, a nationwide event inspired by the late Jo Cox MP. Through music, food, art and dance let’s meet our neighbours and have some fun. The event is open to all, from 12 noon – 9pm. Find out more. 

What can I see and do?

An extravaganza of food, music, entertainment and competitions including bake offs, bark offs and wacky races for all the family. Star attractions will include a dog show, urban farm, a kid’s zone with birds of prey, zorbing pool, “It’s a Knockout” and maypole dancing.

Expect live music, comedy and dance performed over seven stages. Whether you’re into funk, jazz, classical or country there will be a performance for you. Music will come from SuperGlad, London School of Samba, Pandemonium Drummers (from the London 2012 Olympic Games), Borough Market Choir, Borough Welsh Chapel Choir. Swing Patrol, Zoltan Bihari, and the Gay Men’s Dance Company will get your toes tapping and there will be art a-plenty from Emily Peasgood and a shy, but celebrated local artist.  

Phew!

All that fun is enough to make you very hungry and luckily enough there will be food from around the world available including a Feast on the Street (pre-booking essential) and a Global Picnic.

You can follow Bankside Open Space Trust on social media @botse1.

Boarding Pass Installation by Dima Karout.

As part of Refugee Week 2018, Syrian Canadian visual artist and educator Dima Karout has created a participatory installation called ‘Boarding Pass’. Like many of her previous projects, Boarding Pass reflect[s] on our experiences as humans in dealing with visible and invisible boundaries, the quest for identity, and invite us to reflect on our relation to others.

Dima invites you to take a hand-made boarding pass, created and signed by the Globe team, and to write your response to one of the questions suspended in the wires barrier of the installation.

This is not easy. We are asked to consider: WHAT we would give up; WHO we would let go; WHY do we care; WHERE do we draw the line, HOW did we get there and WHEN do you give a second chance? In this uncertain climate, these questions are even more pertinent.

Visit the Globe and add your voice to this growing artwork that Dima created to initiate a collective conversation, and read what other people have said. Find the installation next to the Shop, in the Foyer. This artwork is free and open to all. 

To see more of Dima’s work, and to participate in more interactive installations,  visit her website.

What a coincidence.

On June 10th, 2013, Yeni Şafak, a pro-government Turkish newspaper came out with the main headline ‘WHAT A COINCIDENCE’. Under the headline it said ‘New information has come to light that the Gezi Park Protests which have been turned into a civil coup attempt, were plotted: With the support of a UK based agency, the protests were rehearsed for months, in the play called ‘Mi Minör’ which was staged in Istanbul.’ The sub-headline was ‘First on stage then in Taksim’ and under that, there was a photo from the play and below was the poster of the play which had my picture on it.

Mi Minör was a theatre play, written by Meltem Arikan in which a role-playing game that could be played by both online and in-house audiences, was integrated into the live performance. The show was live-streamed and online audiences could influence the action as much as the in-house audience. I was the director and the co-lead of the play. The female lead was Pinar Ogun. (We are married by the way.)

The play was set in a country called Pinima that had been ruled by ‘The President’ for God knows how many years. The action of the play took place when ‘The Pianist’ suddenly became aware of the oppression in her country after the police banned her piano. The audience could choose to play the ‘President’s Freedom in a Box deMOCKracy game‘ or support the Pianist’s rebellion against the system.

48 days after the last performance, on June 1st, 2013, the protests that had started in Gezi Park became a nationwide uprising in Turkey. The Turkish Government claimed the protests weren’t about protecting trees, but evidence of an international conspiracy of secret powers planning a coup.

During and after the Gezi Park protests the distinction between art and reality broke down as the political situation in Turkey began to resemble the absurdist world of Pinima. We, the creative team, were accused by government officials and pro-government media of being the ‘architects’ of the uprising as part of an international conspiracy to launch a coup against the government, and the play ‘a rehearsal’ for the events that started in Gezi. The subsequent hate campaign forced us to fear for our lives and to leave the country.

When I was asked to contribute with a blog that ‘explores freedom of expression and power of theatre’ I remembered the press conference I had to make after the aforementioned newspaper came out with the headline about our play. After categorically refuting all the absurd allegations about myself, the creative team and the play, I thanked the newspaper for taking theatre so seriously and for believing that a theatre play can be a driving force for such a large scale social phenomenon. Whether theatre still has that ‘power’ to ‘affect change in the social and political landscape’ or not is a question most theatre-makers ask themselves or discuss with one another. We give examples from Shakespeare and how he affected change, we talk about 1920s Berlin and then most of the time we come to the conclusion that our time is not the same and affecting change in the social and political landscape is very limited, if possible at all. Nevertheless, we never stop trying, we start working on a new project hoping to affect change. When I thanked the newspaper it was, of course, an irony, but now I think that their headline was perhaps a reminder, that we must revive our faith in our art form which is still being seen as a threat by the ones who don’t want change.

Director and actor in Mi Minor, Memet Ali Alabora will be on the panel of Shakespeare Under the Radar in which we celebrate daring artists who stage Shakespeare expressly to challenge political authority.

The Winter’s Tale in rehearsal. 

In a fit of groundless jealousy, Leontes wrecks his marriage, defies the gods, destroys his family and ruins himself. As the years roll around, a new generation flee their own country and take refuge in Sicilia. Unknowingly they bring with them the key to the past, present and future… 

Directed by Blanche McIntyre (the Comedy of Errors, 2014; As You Like It, 2015) 

Opens 22 June with a Midnight Matinee on Friday 13 July. Find out more.

Photography: Marc Brenner