29 Nov 2013 ... candlelight in the new Sam Wanamaker Playhouse ... of the question Ellen asks
in her Four Lectures: “Have you ever thought much.
Dame Eileen Atkins to perform Shakespeare’s greatest female characters by candlelight in the new Sam Wanamaker Playhouse 29 November 2013 Eileen Atkins will offer the first performance of Shakespeare in the new Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on 12 January, when she takes to the candlelit stage to explore and perform some of Shakespeare’s greatest female characters, as told by Ellen Terry. Considered one of the finest Shakespearean actresses of the Victorian period, Ellen Terry composed Four Lectures on Shakespeare with her friend and colleague Sir Henry Irving in the early years of the twentieth century. Eileen Atkins weaves together these lectures, stories from Ellen’s life and excerpts from several of Shakespeare’s plays in a dazzling and lucid dramatization of the question Ellen asks in her Four Lectures: “Have you ever thought much we all…owe to Shakespeare for his vindication of woman in his fearless, high-spirited, resolute and intelligent heroines?" Over the course of the show Eileen performs a dozen parts – from Viola to Volumnia, from Lady Macbeth to Desdemona – to shed fascinating new light on female characters who have sometimes been construed as dull, submissive or one-dimensional. Eileen Atkins’ extensive credits for film and television include Cranford, for which she won both a BAFTA and an Emmy, Upstairs, Downstairs and Gosford Park. Her most recent stage appearance was as Mrs Rooney in a critically-acclaimed production of Beckett’s All That Fall with Michael Gambon at the Jermyn Street Theatre, and subsequently in the West End. Ellen Terry with Eileen Atkins was first performed at the Chichester Festival Theatre in August 2012.
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS For further information contact Francesca Maguire, Julia Hallawell or Emma Draper at Shakespeare’s Globe on +44 (0) 207 902 1491/1492 or email
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Ellen Terry with Eileen Atkins 12 January – 23 February 2014 Press tickets available for selected performances. Shakespeare’s Globe Booking: Phone In person Sundays Online Tickets
+44 (0) 20 7401 9919 Mon-Sat 10am-6pm (8pm on performance days) 10am-5pm (7pm on performance days) www.shakespearesglobe.com £5 - £39 (Globe Theatre) £10 - £60 (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse)
Globe Exhibition & Tour is open all year round. For more information visit www.shakespearesglobe.com/exhibition The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse: Shakespeare’s Globe is in the final stages of fundraising to complete the new indoor Jacobean theatre, opening in 2014 with The Duchess of Malfi, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, L’Ormindo and The Malcontent. For more information, please visit http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/the-samwanamaker-playhouse Globe on Tour: The Globe’s productions tour the UK and internationally. For more information, please visit www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/on-tour Globe On Screen: The Globe has strengthened and expanded its commitment to digital innovation in theatre in 2013, taking current Globe On Screen releases to hundreds of thousands of cinemagoers in eleven countries. Find out more at www.globeonscreen.com Globe Education presents a programme of workshops, lectures, events and staged readings all year round. For more information, call Globe Education 020 7902 1438 or visit www.shakespearesglobe.com/education Globe Shop stocks a variety of products, including theatre season specific merchandise. Shakespeare's Globe is a registered charity and all profits from sales go towards supporting our educational mission. Items can be bought at the onsite shop or online at www.shakespearesglobe.com/shop The Swan Bar and Chophouse and the Foyer Café Bar are open all year round. For reservations and more information please call 020 7928 9444. www.loveswan.co.uk The Shakespeare Globe Trust is a registered charity No. 266916. Shakespeare’s Globe receives no regular public subsidy.
