Sir, the last of a great, but dying breed of English actor-managers, is in a very bad way tonight. As his dresser tries valiantly to prepare him for another performance of King Lear, Sir is having great difficulty remembering who and where he is, let alone his lines. With a Herculean effort on the part of Norman, the dresser, Sir does finally make it on stage, but at what cost?
Conflict, "a play for voices" is the story of Richard Clark, a Minsmere coastguard who lived in one of the cottages that are now the National Trust tea rooms at Dunwich Heath. His refusal to be conscripted into the Crimean war due to his strict religious beliefs forms the basis of this story.
Circle 67 has been collaborating with the National Trust at Dunwich to bring to life the true story of one of Britain’s first conscientious objectors, Richard Clark. An employee of the Preventive Service and an occupant of one of the Coastguard Cottages at Dunwich, Richard was called to fight in the Crimean War (1853-56), but as a Quaker he held a deep religious belief that it is wrong to kill. He refused to be conscripted and was eventually imprisoned on a prison hulk. His case was pleaded in the House of Commons by John Bright MP and this campaign formed the basis of a law recognising the right of people to refuse to fight for reasons of conscience.
Mrs Horrocks’ class of seven year olds is in the final stages of preparing the annual Nativity Play at Flint Street primary school. As with all young children, rivalries and friendships come to the fore. Two girls compete to secure the envied role of Mary, Herod won’t stop waving to his Mum and Dad, while a nervous Star of Bethlehem is desperate to prove that he is as brave as the surly Innkeeper...and then the stick insect escapes! Tim Firth (Calendar Girls) plays with all the familiar seasonal tropes to provide a unique insight into the minds of children through the behaviour of grown-ups. Warning: The play contains adult themes and some playground language that may amuse and possibly offend teachers & parents.
London. The plague is over. Theatres are re-opening. King Charles II has exploded onto the scene with a love of all things loud, extravagant and sexy. And at Drury Lane, a young Nell Gwynn is causing stirrings amongst the theatregoers.
We started our outdoor Shorter Shakespeare tours in 1984 with around half-an-hour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and gradually seem to have doubled the length to about an hour, in venues such as pub gardens (Geldeston Locks, The Low House, Westhall Racehorse, etc.), Bungay Castle and Castle Meadow in Bramfield.
