Globe Season Brochure 2014

23 April – 12 October

Arms & the

Man

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ike many a seventeen-year-old, the Globe continues to bound out into the world with energy in its step, and excitement in its eyes. As I write, there are two shows wowing audiences on Broadway, a touring operation that seems to know no limits, and films and DVDs that spread that reach much further. And the Globe now has a younger sibling, the jewel-like Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, playing through the winter, as well as creating music and magic through the summer.

Our major Shakespeares follow a Roman theme, though within that theme, as with all things Shakespearean, there is infinite variety; the glorious burnished poetry and passions of Antony and Cleopatra; the clockwork knockabout of The Comedy of Errors from its Plautus original; the confusion of friendship and freedom at the heart of Julius Caesar, and we are revisiting a previous Globe production, with the return of Lucy Bailey’s astonishing and visceral Titus Andronicus.

Our theme for 2014, the thread that runs through our shows, is mankind’s endless capacity for conflict, and all the human stories that live within those conflicts – stories of love, pride, politics, wild hilarity and great sorrow. One of our shows, Howard Brenton’s marvellous Doctor Scroggy’s War, deals directly with the Great War in its 100th anniversary year: the others offer different snapshots from the broad panorama of humanity at war.

We have a great hand of new plays; as well as Howard Brenton’s new work mentioned above, there is Simon Armitage’s beautiful and clear retelling of the mothership of all war stories, the Iliad, in The Last Days of Troy; David Eldridge’s kaleidoscopic journey through history in Holy Warriors, and Richard Bean’s brilliant, funny and imaginative retelling of what happened to Fletcher Christian and his mutineers, Pitcairn. It is a great joy that new writing has become such an integral part of what the Globe does.

Our first offering of the season will be in celebration of a different anniversary, the 450th of Shakespeare’s birth. On that day we will open our small-scale Hamlet, before it goes on a brain-defying, logisticsconfounding tour of every country in the world, yes all 205 (at the last count). It is part of our continuing ambition to promote an open and joyous conversation across languages and borders through the medium of Shakespeare and theatre. This is an ambition which continues with the return of the heart-stirring Gujarati All’s Well That Ends Well from the 2012 Globe to Globe Festival, the wonderful Deafinitely Theatre company forging a new language from signing and theatricality with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Spanish company Rakatá who thrilled audiences with their Henry VIII two years ago, returning with the Lope de Vega masterpiece El Castigo sin Venganza (Punishment without Revenge).

As well as Hamlet, we will be sending off two other small-scale tours into the world, last year’s great King Lear and a new production of Much Ado About Nothing. They both touch down at the Globe, please do try to catch them here or on their travels. As if that weren’t enough, there will continue to be events, musical, theatrical and comical, popping up in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. We do like to keep the conversation lively, join us in that conversation this summer.

Dominic Dromgoole Artistic Director

A TWO-YEAR TOUR TO EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD

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earning of his father’s death, Prince Hamlet comes home to find his uncle married to his mother and installed on the Danish throne. At night, the ghost of the old king demands that Hamlet avenge his ‘foul and most unnatural murder.’ Encompassing political intrigue and sexual obsession, philosophical reflection and violent action, tragic depth and wild humour, Hamlet is Shakespeare’s ‘poem unlimited’, a colossus in the story of the English language and the fullest expression of his genius. Be there at the start of a completely unprecedented theatrical adventure and help us launch this two-year worldwide tour of our pared-down, small-scale Hamlet, which will visit all 205 nations on earth.

WRITTEN by William Shakespeare

directed by Dominic Dromgoole and Bill Buckhurst

Designed by Jonathan Fensom

Composed by Bill Barclay with original music by Laura Forrest-Hay From 23 April #G2G @WorldHamlet

‘A wonderfully engrossing production’ The Independent

Titus Andronicus Brutality of the highest order

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eturning to Rome from a war against the Goths, the general Titus Andronicus brings with him the queen Tamora and her three sons as prisoners of war. Titus’ sacrifice of Tamora’s eldest son to appease the ghosts of his dead sons, and his decision to refuse to accept the title of emperor, initiates a terrible cycle of mutilation, rape and murder. And all the while, at the centre of the nightmare, there moves the villainous, self-delighting Aaron. Grotesquely violent and daringly experimental, Titus was the smash hit of Shakespeare’s early career, and is written with a ghoulish energy he was never to repeat elsewhere. This production revisits Lucy Bailey’s spectacular Globe production of 2006.


directed by Lucy Bailey

Designed by William Dudley

composed by Django Bates From 24 April #Titus

For Titus Andronicus, 2006

‘Quentin Tarantino, eat your heart out... Explosive’ The Observer

‘Exhilarating’ The Independent

antony and

Two lovers blown apart by love and war

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leopatra, the alluring and fascinatingly ambiguous Queen of Egypt, has bewitched the great Mark Antony, soldier, campaigner and now one of the three rulers of the Roman Empire. When Antony quarrels with his fellow leaders and throws in his lot with Cleopatra, his infatuation threatens to split the Empire in two. Roman virtue and Eastern vice, transcendent love and realpolitik combine in Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare’s greatest exploration of the conflicting claims of sex and power, all expressed in a tragic poetry of breathtaking beauty and magnificence. WRITTEN by William Shakespeare

directed by Jonathan Munby

Eve best as Cleopatra From 17 May #AntonyCleopatra

Friends close, enemies closer WRITTEN by William Shakespeare

directed by Dominic Dromgoole From 20 June #JuliusCaesar

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hen Caesar returns to Rome from the wars a virtual dictator, Brutus and his republican friends resolve that his ambition must be curbed – which in Rome can mean only one thing: the great general must be assassinated. But once the deed is done, the idealistic conspirators must reckon with the forces of a new power bloc, led by Mark Antony and Caesar’s nephew Octavius. When their armies close at Philippi, will Caesar’s ghost be avenged? Opposing dictatorship and republicanism, private virtue and mob violence, Shakespeare’s tense drama of high politics reveals the emotional currents that flow between men in power. This production will employ Renaissance costumes and staging.

the

comedy

errors

of T

ake one pair of estranged twin brothers (both called Antipholus), and one pair of estranged twin servants (both called Dromio), keep them in ignorance of each other and throw them into a city with a reputation for sorcery, and you have all the ingredients for theatrical chaos. One Antipholus is astonished by his foreign hospitality; the other enraged by the hostility of his home town. The Dromios, caught between the two, are soundly beaten for obeying all the wrong orders. Basing his plot on a farce by Plautus, Shakespeare caps the mayhem of his Roman original to build up a hectic tale of violent cross-purposes, furious slapstick and social nightmare. This production will employ Renaissance costumes and staging.


directed by Blanche McIntyre From 30 August #ComedyOfErrors

The last days of

troy T

he Greeks are laying siege to Troy to win back their abducted queen, Helen. But as the conflict drags on, and despite battlefields scarlet with blood, opposing forces have reached a bitter stalemate. Desperate and exhausted, both Gods and mortals squabble amongst themselves for the spoils of war and the hand of victory. The Last Days of Troy completes Homer’s Iliad, with award-winning poet and author Simon Armitage’s dramatisation bringing the war to a brutal conclusion. It reveals a world locked in cycles of conflict and revenge, of east versus west, and a dangerous mix of pride, lies and self-deception. Royal Exchange Theatre in association with Shakespeare’s Globe

WRITTEN by Simon Armitage

directed by Nick Bagnall

Designed by Ashley Martin Davis

composed by Alex Baranowski From 10 June #LastDaysOfTroy

The Trojan war was a fight against the city of Troy after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus. story of two countries at war. Paris stole Helen and they wanted vengeance.

the most beautiful woman since the beginning of time?

return Helen to her rightful country and lawful husband.

No more scanning the sea for raiding parties and

black ships, no If I kill you, I’ll honour more listening for rattling

your death and hand your

gathering

Achilles skewered like a squealing pig Open the gates. if we have to take down the

swords, no more storm-clouds in the west.

body back to the Greeks.

bridge and widen the arch, this horse is ours.

The immovable object holds firm

against the irresistible force,

and this terrible war drags on. “Beyond the battlefield, the original tale is a back-room story of wounded pride, and the push and pull of family ties and national loyalty – tense and intriguing, with moments of great tragedy and breath-taking humility.

Everything we have come to expect of the great myths”

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aladin’s army have corrected a great wrong by taking Jerusalem back for Islam, after the barbaric slaughter of their people one hundred years ago. But for Muslim and Christian alike Jerusalem is a Holy City. Across England and Outremer, nobles answer the call to arms from Richard the Lionheart to march on Jerusalem in the third crusade and retake the Holy City from Saladin.

WRITTEN by David Eldridge

directed by James Dacre From 19 July #HolyWarriors

Written by David Eldridge (Festen, In Basildon), Holy Warriors is a kaleidoscopic tale of holy war and revenge in the struggle for Jerusalem, taking in over two millennia of bloody conflict, as Richard the Lionheart marches east to face Saladin, the Romans take Jerusalem; and Hamas militants explode suicide bombs on buses.

as yours ours as much ‘Jer usalem is ed to us’ cr sa e or m en – indeed it’s ev the Lionheart Saladin, let ter

‘Jer usalem is worship tha for us an object of t even if ther we could not give up e were only Richar d the one of us le Lionheart, let ft’ ter to Sa ladin

to Richard

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n Howard Brenton’s epic new play about the First World War, Jack Twigg, 19 years old, enlists in the London Regiment and goes on a journey he never imagined – nor did the rest of the world. On his way, he meets the pioneering medic Harold Gillies, who saves his life and his sanity. But who is the mysterious ‘Doctor Scroggy’ who appears at night in Gillies’ hospital dispensing champagne to the patients? Howard Brenton and John Dove, the team that brought you Anne Boleyn (Best New Play – 2011 WhatsOnStage Awards) return to the Globe depicting Gillies’s war against war. Hilarious and moving, Doctor Scroggy’s War gives a sideways look at the First World War a hundred years after its onset.

WRITTEN by Howard Brenton

directed by John Dove

designed by Michael Taylor

Composed by William Lyons From 12 September #ScroggysWar

A co-production between Out of Joint, Chichester Festival Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe

WRITTEN by Richard Bean

directed by Max Stafford-Clark

Designed by Tim Shortall From 22 September #Pitcairn

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n the southern Pacific Ocean on the remote island of Pitcairn, the infamous mutineers of The Bounty, led by Fletcher Christian (or should it be Titreano?), begin to establish a new society alongside their Tahitian followers. Tensions quickly swell as the British settlers refuse to relinquish the vices of their past. Social, racial and sexual schisms render the once paradisiac island into a hotbed of discord and bloody violence. Pitcairn vividly explores the conflict between personal freedoms and public responsibilities. Pitcairn is Richard Bean’s brutal telling of the colonisation of the remote island of Pitcairn by Fletcher Christian and the Bounty mutineers. Directed by Max StaffordClark and designed by Tim Shortall, the play charts – with salty humour and growing horror – the spiralling descent of the colony from a new Eden of freedom and equality to a brutal dystopia. Richard Bean’s recent credits include One Man, Two Guvnors at the National Theatre, in the West End and on Broadway. Contains nudity and scenes of a sexual nature.

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laudio loves Hero and Hero Claudio and nothing seems capable of keeping them apart. Claudio’s friend Benedick loves Beatrice and Beatrice Benedick, but (because neither will admit it) nothing seems capable of bringing them together. Only the intrigues of a resentful prince force Benedick to prove his love for Beatrice – by killing his best friend. Driven along by a romance all the more charming for being in denial, Much Ado About Nothing is a miracle of comic and dramatic suspense and gives us, in the bantering Beatrice and Benedick, one of Shakespeare’s wittiest, most lovable pair of lovers.

much ado about nothing WRITTEN by William Shakespeare

directed by Max Webster

designed by James Cotterill

Composed by John Barber Performed at the Globe and touring on a small-scale, Elizabethan-style stage From 28 April

Margate Theatre Royal

The Crichton, Dumfries

11 – 13 April 2014

24 & 25 June 2014

Alnwick Playhouse

Doddington Hall, Lincoln

16 & 17 April 2014

28 & 29 June 2014

Shakespeare’s Globe, london

Herstmonceux Castle, Hailsham

28 April – 3 May 2014

Shakespeare’s Globe, london

15 July 2014

14 – 16 & 19 May 2014

Norwich Cathedral,

Brighton Festival, St Nicholas Rest Garden

17 & 18 July 2014

Hedingham Castle, Essex

22 – 25 May 2014

19 & 20 July 2014

Parham House

Newby Hall, Ripon

27 & 28 May 2014

23 & 24 July 2014

Connaught Theatre, Worthing

Kilkenny Arts Festival

king lear

O

ld King Lear, weary of royal duties, proposes to break up his kingdom and divide it among his three daughters. But this rash generosity is cruelly repaid and Lear discovers too late the false values by which he has lived – and, in turn, the suffering common to all humanity. Its tempestuous poetry shot through with touches of humour and moments of heart-rending simplicity, King Lear is one of the deepest artistic explorations of the human condition.

WRITTEN by

30 & 31 May 2014

8 – 17 August 2014

William Shakespeare

Salisbury Festival, Old Wardour Castle

Please check our website for further venue and tour announcements

directed by

3 – 7 June 2014

Bill Buckhurst

Designed by Jonathan Fensom

composed by Alex Silverman Performed at the Globe and touring on a small-scale, Elizabethan-style stage From 6 August

Portsmouth City Museum Gardens 3 – 5 July 2014

Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal 8 – 12 July 2014

Old Schools Quadrangle, Bodleian Library, Oxford 22 July – 3 August 2014

Shakespeare’s Globe, london 6 – 9, 18 – 23 August

Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond 27 – 30 August 2014 Please check our website for further venue and tour announcements

Arpana, from Mumbai, India

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hen Bharatram (Bertram) flees his native Gujarat for Bombay, his mother’s ward Heli (Helena), desperately in love, decides to pursue him. But Bharatram feels differently, and attaches two obstructive conditions to their marriage – conditions he is sure will never be met. Twentieth-century India stands in for Renaissance France in this joyful, imaginative production of a play that reverses all the usual expectations of Shakespearean comedy. ‘It works like the best kind of Bollywood film: there is passion, pain, a stout matriarch and the stirring sounds of harmonium and tabla from three musicians on stage... With visual jokes and beautifully sung soliloquies, time skipped by, even for this non-Gujarati speaker’

This year’s Globe to Globe Features shows from Deafinitely Theatre, Arpana and Fundación Siglo de Oro (RAKATá)

Financial Times, reviewing the 2012 Globe to Globe production


performed in Gujarati with scene synopses in English

directed by Sunil Shanbag

‘Simply the thing I am Shall make me live.’

castigo sin venganza ‘Punishment without revenge.’

From 5 to 10 May #AllsWell #G2G

Fundación Siglo de Oro (RAKATá), from Madrid, Spain

F Deafinitely Theatre, from London, UK

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ermia loves Lysander and Helena loves Demetrius – but Demetrius is supposed to be marrying Hermia… When the Duke of Athens tries to enforce the marriage, the lovers take refuge in the woods and walk into the midst of a dispute between the king and queen of the fairies. A teasing, glittering, very funny and amazingly inventive play, whose seriousness is only fleetingly glimpsed beneath its dreamlike surface.

‘Deafinitely’s aim has always been to bridge the gap between deaf and hearing audiences, and the gap gets smaller here. It’s not only a new approach for existing Shakespeare fans; it also provides a great introduction to the playwright, especially for children. Definitely, I’d say, theatre for everyone’ The Guardian, reviewing the 2012 Deafinitely Theatre’s Globe to Globe production of Love’s Labour’s Lost

ederico, bastard son of the Duke of Ferrara, falls in love with Cassandra, his father’s intended bride, and she with him. When the truth of their ‘dishonourable’ union comes to light, the Duke exacts a pitiless revenge. On its cleverly mapped journey towards a violent climax equal to that of any Jacobean playwright, El Castigo sin Venganza explores the tragic role of honour in seventeenthcentury life – cruel, necessary, ineluctable. This is the first Globe staging of a play from Spain’s Golden Age – with its fascinating correspondences to the drama of Elizabethan England – and a rare chance to see one of De Vega’s greatest plays.

WRITTEN by WRITTEN by William Shakespeare

performed in British Sign Language with scene synopses in English From 2 to 7 June

Lope De Vega

performed in Castilian Spanish with scene synopses in English

directed by Ernesto Arias From 1 to 6 September

#Midsummer #G2G

#LopedeVega #G2G

Shakespeare’s Birthday

Story Days

Rarely Played

Free open day for all of the family to celebrate Shakespeare’s 450th birthday

Dynamic and unforgettable retellings of Shakespeare’s stories by Globe Education story tellers. Suitable for ages 6+.

Inspiring and engaging introductions to the Read Not Dead performances.

Tickets: £15 (Admits 1 Child & 1 Adult) Additional ticket £8

Includes a ticket to the Read Not Dead performance

Monday 21 April Tickets: Free

COMEDY STORE PLAYERS The Comedy Store Players return to the Globe with a stunning line-up of six comedians presenting a night of hilarious improvised comedy. Monday 26 May 8pm Tickets: £5-£42

Setting the Scene Leading scholars provide introductions to the evening’s play, illustrated by Globe actors.

Saturday Study Days A day of workshops and seminars with Globe Theatre Artists and leading Shakespeare Scholars. Tickets: £50 (£40 FoSG/ concs/students)

Perspectives

Talking Theatre

Platform discussions providing further insights to the season’s new writes and the annual talk by John Wolfson (Honorary Curator of Rare Books, Shakespeare’s Globe).

Chaired Q&As with members of the theatre company.

Tickets: £10 (£8 FoSG/ concs/students)




Read Not Dead Performances with scripts of rarely performed plays that complement the theatre season. Tickets: £10 (£8 FoSG/ concs/students)

Featuring Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V. £19.99 each shakespearesglobe.com/shop

DVDs

EVENTS

out now

IMPORTANT INFORMATION Please read before booking.

Visibility The roof of the stage and all gallery seats are held up by pillars and there is no seat in the theatre from which the action is not obscured at some point.

Weather All seats are covered, but the theatre is open to the elements and performances continue whatever the weather.

Stairs If you have problems climbing stairs or suffer from vertigo you are advised to request tickets in the lower gallery.

latecomers Latecomers are admitted to the Globe but may be asked to stand until the interval.

ACCESS FACILITIES Seating Seating consists of wooden benches. Yard tickets are standing only, please do not bring shooting sticks or chairs.

Cloakroom A cloakroom is available for patrons attending performances. Large bags must be left in the cloakroom. Shakespeare’s Globe reserves the right to refuse oversized or obstructive items into the theatre. Shakespeare’s Globe cannot be held responsible for any personal items brought to the venue, or left in the cloakroom.

Children A ticket is required for anyone aged 3 and over. If your child cries or causes a disturbance you will be asked to leave and may not be readmitted to the theatre. All information correct at the time of going to print. Shakespeare’s Globe reserves the right to alter the programme or performance schedule without prior notification.

Shakespeare’s Globe aims to be accessible and welcoming to all and is committed to making your visit as easy and as enjoyable as possible. Access Information: Tel: 020 7902 1409 10am – 5pm Monday – Friday [email protected]

DEAF OR HEARING IMPAIRED PEOPLE A hearing aid induction loop is available at all performances. Please note that the Globe is an open-air theatre and the loop will amplify all sounds. Hearing aids should be switched to ‘T’ position.

Two parking spaces are available for disabled patrons. Spaces must be booked in advance and are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

A small number of induction loop enhancers are available for digital hearing aid users, please ask at the Information Desk on arrival. Enabling dogs are welcome, please inform Box Office at time of booking.

WHEELCHAIR USERS

Please see performance schedule for dates of sign language interpreted and captioned performances.

PARKING

The theatre has provision for wheelchair users in the yard and Gentlemen’s Rooms, and there is full disabled access throughout the rest of the site. Gentlemen’s Rooms tickets must be booked. One wheelchair platform is available in the yard, and must be booked through the Box Office. Please note that sight lines from ground level can be restricted. Patrons wishing to transfer between wheelchairs and bench seating should call the access information line prior to booking as not all seats are suitable. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to accommodate you if you book an unsuitable seat or do not notify us at the time of booking.

BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE Touch tours are available before audio described performances. For a schedule of dates, please call the access information line. Enabling dogs are welcome, please inform Box Office at the time of booking. Please see performance schedule for dates of audio described performances.

ACCESS Registration Scheme Shakespeare’s Globe provides a free access registration scheme with a view to improving the experience of visitors. To gain full benefits please join at shakespearesglobe.com/ your-visit/access

ACCESS GUIDE An access guide is available on request. For any access queries please call the access information line or email.

SUPPORT US The Shakespeare Globe Trust is an educational charity (registered charity number 266916). We receive no annual public subsidy and rely on the generosity of our individual, corporate and trust supporters to help us maintain our standard of excellence for our artistic and education programming, continuing to produce exciting, inspiring and challenging work for all audiences.

LEGACY GIVING

SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE

FRIENDS & PATRONS

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters we have raised £7.3 million against the £7.5 million needed to build the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. We now turn to you, our devoted audience and ask you to contribute towards the final £200,000. Any gift, large or small, would be greatly appreciated and edge us even closer to our target. There are many ways to give, whether that is in person or by adding a donation when booking your ticket.

Friends and Patrons of Shakespeare’s Globe support the work of the charity and are able to book tickets for performances ahead of the public.

DONATE BY JOINING OUR GIVING WALL

SUPPORTING THROUGH YOUR BUSINESS

Visit us at BIT.LY/SWT2013 make a donation and share your message with hundreds of supporters who, like you, have donated on our Giving Wall.

DONATE BY NAMING A SEAT Naming a seat in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse makes an unforgettable gift and is also a thoughtful way of remembering someone who loved the theatre and Shakespeare. Seat naming costs £3,000 and payments can be spread over several years.

Join a growing group of supporters who have chosen to support the Globe by leaving a gift in their will. Your legacy is precious and will help us to develop and strengthen our innovative Education and Theatre programmes. Find out more by contacting us on 020 7902 1450 or [email protected]

T h e S a m Wa n a m a k e r P l ay hou s e

Higher levels of membership have access to top price tickets up to one month, three weeks and 48 hours prior to performance date (subject to availability). To find out more contact the Friends & Patrons office on 020 7902 1450 or email [email protected]

You can also get involved with Shakespeare’s Globe through your business, helping to directly support our artistic, education and community outreach programmes. We work with businesses in many different ways, offering a flexible and creative approach to develop collaborative partnerships that effectively meet your needs. To find out more please contact us on 020 7902 1452 or [email protected]

Events all through the summer

‘This candlelit venue offers extraordinary opportunities for dramatic intimacy’ Dominic Maxwell, The Times

‘The extraordinary thing about the new indoor Jacobean theatre that is part of Shakespeare’s Globe, is that it feels as if it’s always been there and was just waiting to be uncovered’ Michael Billington, The Guardian

design Small Back Room The Shakespeare Globe Trust, a limited company registered in England and Wales No.1152238 and a registered charity No.266916. Shakespeare Globe Trading Limited registered charity in England and Wales No.997433.

‘A gorgeous and important addition to the London stage’ Susannah Clapp, The Observer