Another opening - Another Show - Another Strike.

OTHELLO - 2017

25th - 29th July - Dartmouth Castle

Dartmouth Shakespeare Week.

Not so much a blog, more a huge and heartfelt thank you really.

The sun was out (mostly), the rain fell (heavily), but everybody shone, in every way, all of the time. 

Many people have posted elsewhere (Friends of the Inn Theatre Company on Facebook, Twitter [@InnTheatre], Instagram etc) and said thanks to their cast-mates, their colleagues and their families and said what a very special production this was.

Members of the audience, whether they saw the production outside at the Castle or inside when we transferred to St. Petrox church, have been more than generous with their praise for the show as a whole and for the cast in particular.

“I have never experienced such emotional and powerful acting…”

As the director this year, I have to say they are not wrong. The thing about the Inn is that, when they come together for this yearly production, they are a family. No doubt. It matters not a jot (not a jot!) if it's somebody's first time with them or their tenth, they are the Inn. Simple. They work together, they help each other, they have enthusiasm for what they do and an obvious and deep affection for not only theatre but for Shakespeare too.

“This year’s performance was, yet again, outrageously good…”

“All the cast were faultless, but the performance of Othello himself was outstanding.”

We had, as far as I can tell, one of the strongest casts we have ever had up at the castle. And, when the rains came (Friday and Saturday night) they took a deep breath, went and had a look at what was a completely different performance area and got on with the job. To stunning effect.

“Yet another stunning production breathing life into the Bard’s great works.”

The play becomes an utterly different animal when you place it within the confines of a space such as a church.

The audience are, by it's very nature, that much closer to the action and the actors have to move so very differently when they are here to the way they have rehearsed in the vast space that is the castle.

Our amazing musicians and technicians rose to the challenge with equal professionalism and aplomb. And Desdemona, who had the almost impossible task of singing the Willow Song to amplified music without the aid of any mics herself, was quite simply magnificent.

 

“Amazing  production! I still have a lump in my throat.”

My Assistant Director, my Stage Manager and my Props Manager did just that: managed - and managed with a surety and confidence that made me a very happy director!

And the actors, after their initial deep breath when seeing the church (some of them for the first time - we never rehearse there beforehand. Maybe that's the only 'superstition' we have: if you don't go there, you won't need it!) walked around, ran some lines and put their heads together, figuring certain scenes out (particularly those with sword-play) and discovering new ways to add to their scenes, always taking into account the fact that they were surrounded by the audience, some of them mere inches away. But always remembering that others in that same audience were on the other side of a building that had vast, thick columns blocking some of their views.

“I felt so emotionally charged and involved as I watched the excellent and dynamic acting from all the cast.”

But Dartmouth Shakespeare Week is, ostensibly, an outdoor production in a location that is, in every way (I believe) the equal to any other outdoor space, anywhere. It is stunning. And for a company to take a production that is, for want of a better analogy, two pints and squeeze it into a pint pot and not lose any of the flavour, the drama or the heightened emotion...well...I can't thank them enough for all the effort and energy they put into it every single night.

“I think last night was the first time I have not only understood (Shakespeare) but felt involved.”

And as you can see, the sun did shine for three of the nights! 

All the cast members have been listed and thanked in other places (see above) so I shan't do that here (the listing bit!) but I will just say that I have had the most incredible time, over the last three months or so, working with a bunch of people who, at every single turn, defy the name 'amateur' as it seems to be understood by too many people!

All these wonderful folk are, in every way, true professionals - and a couple of them are (as understood by those same people who smirk at the mention of amateurs...) and have given of their time, as we all do, for nothing. Absolutely zilch; nada; naught. 

And finally, if you managed to catch Othello at the castle - or in the church - I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did and a huge thank you for supporting us and live theatre.

“Tonight’s Othello was just bloody amazing.”

“The vision for the production was truly inspired and the final production was breathtaking.”

“My son and his family, who are not natural Shakespeare fans, were pretty well blown away by the production.”

“…up there with R.S.C. productions, quite possibly above them too.”

So Much To Do...So Little Time!

Then, Now and What's To Come.

Been a while, hasn't it?

I plead learning to walk whilst running pell-mell down a hill; or, if you prefer, getting to grips with technology and the ridiculous amount of 'stuff' that seems to be needed to be done just to keep pace with everything else.

We at the Inn aren't particularly 'tech savvy' (something you may have gathered already!) but when there's one bloke trying to all this tech stuff that, to be honest, he doesn't quite get, then that could - perhaps should - be a recipe for confusion and despair: not to say disaster.

Facebook, Twitter, Web-site...and don't even bother to mention all the other 'absolutely vital' methods of communication/social media that are out there: Pintrest (what does that even do?); Tumblr; Snapchat and on and on and on.

Fortunately there are only 24 hours in a day! And sleep, I'm afraid, is a necessary and vital component for sanity and survival.

And what, exactly, have we been up to that demands this resounding silence on the blog front? 

Well we haven't been resting on our laurels, that's for sure.

Here follow pictures to illustrate a few of things that have been going on in the 'then', as it were!

Here's the magnificent cast from our 2016 tour of Twelfth Night (with Theatre Hub ) and as you can see, we went all over the place and had pretty good time doing it!

All this was going on as we were also preparing for the 2016 Dartmouth Shakespeare Week production of Romeo and Juliet.

We are nothing if not gluttons for punishment! Yet (and I think all those involved would agree) if we didn't have fun doing it, and saw the pleasure it brings to the audiences, then we'd stay at home and watch 'spectacular' TV shows.

And here's the Dartmouth Shakespeare Week production in question. Another full on spectacular, with the added bonus of losing our Romeo four weeks before the off and managing to get the amazing talents of one Joe Tapper. He stepped in a knocked it out of the proverbial park! An absolutely incredible performance.

This is the gentleman in question, bidding farewell to his love (played by Kylie Storman) and moving on to meet to meet his own untimely end.  

We were more than little chuffed that both these productions were in the Tripadvisor top ten must-see productions for #shakespeare400 (it was the anniversary of Will's death in 2016) and included in the Expedia map of celebratory productions that exemplified professionalism and showed The Bard's work off to best effect! 

And while all that was going on, we were also in the throes of planning the 2017 Dartmouth Shakespeare Week production and the 2017 tour!

Here's what we've come up with for 2017:

Once again we've lined up an incredible cast for this year's Dartmouth Shakespeare Week production of Othello.

All life is here, with several new faces that have joined us for this powerful play and a few familiar friends who just can't seem to stop spending their summers prancing about at Dartmouth Castle!

We are particularly happy to welcome to the fold, the excellent Alphonso Brown, who is taking on the challenge of playing the eponymous lead. Alongside him will be our very own Clare Purdy as Desdemona, James Osben as Iago, Benjy Hamilton as Michael Cassio and Joe Tapper (remember him?) as Roderigo. 

This one promises to be magnificent!

2017's tour (again with Theatre Hub)kicked off on 28th May in the atmospheric location that is Torre Abbey, in Torquay. 

The weather managed to be kind to us for the performance (although it was touch and go) and finally gave up its struggle as the audience were leaving! Which was nice.

The rest of the tour will be taking place at various venues throughout Devon over the coming month of June.

2nd June sees us as part of the lovely Exmouth Festival then it's on to Avon Mill  on 16th & 17th then we finish it all at Shakespeare in the Garden at Pecorama in East Devon.

Then it's back to work on Othello.

Another slow-paced and relaxing summer for us all then.

What's To Come?

Good question. The answer to which is...we don't actually know. After fifteen years of presenting Dartmouth Shakespeare Week (Othello is the fifteenth anniversary production), three plus years of touring and six years of affiliation to the Royal Shakespeare Company we find ourselves, apparently, about to fall victim to these dire financial times.

As you are no doubt aware, the Inn Theatre Company is funded entirely by advertising sponsors, generous friends and ticket sales. We receive absolutely no grant-aided assistance from any of the many bodies set up to help.

And we perfectly understand that sponsors can - and do, and have - placed their monies elsewhere, in terms of advertising. That is their choice and one which we wholeheartedly respect.

However...it leaves us in a quandry. We are working hard to find new ways and means of keeping Dartmouth Shakespeare Week and the Inn Theatre Company going, but if we do not find this aid soon and if this year happens to be the year that the rains come (always a possibility) and the audiences go away, then this production of Othello would be our last. And that's something that we, as a company, do not want to happen.

We hope against hope that everyone's hard work over the years will be acknowledged and people will step-up to the plate and help. 

Maybe you can offer something? 

If you would like to know more about us as company, then please visit our web-site: www.theinntheatrecompany.co.uk or drop us a line at theinntheatrecompany@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you.

Here's hoping then. It would be a real shame to lose magical moments and fantastic people like these:

Much Ado About Nothing.

Macbeth

Twelfth Night

As You Like It

The Tempest

The Taming of the Shrew

The Merry Wives of Windsor

King Lear

Romeo and Juliet

A Midsummer Night's Dream

We can but hope that all's well that ends well. See you this year at the castle and, we fervently hope, next year too!

Happy Anniversary!

A Year Is A Long Time In Anybody's Book...

 ...and it is a year to the day that I last put finger to keyboard and wrote something here. 

A week maybe a long time in politics but a year in theatre is a veritable lifetime! And lot has happened in the last twelvemonth...

The reasons for the lack of news (for those of you that care!) are mainly personal and manifold...book published, play written and published and performed and award won and professional theatre company formed, launched and touring. Plug over.

As to the Inn, well we have gone from strength to strength and after 2015's mini-tour of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and the magnificent production of 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' at Dartmouth Castle, we launched into rehearsing a touring production of 'Twelfth Night' and started the search for the 2016 Dartmouth Shakespeare Week cast of 'Romeo and Juliet'. We never sleep.

Top: A promenade performance of the Dream as part of the 2015 tour
Above: some of the cast from the 1950's-set Merry Wives.

We are, as a company, inordinately proud of all our achievements over the past year, not least of which is to see the touring production of 'Twelfth Night' and the DSW production of 'Romeo and Juliet' get in to the Tripadvisor top ten must-see shows to celebrate this year of #Shakespeare400.

We are still affiliated to the RSC for the rest of this year and rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet are well underway, with workshops in voice and text and swordplay on the menu for the pretty-much all new cast, many of whom are not only new to the Castle experience, but new to Will too.

This year's director is the wonderful Jon Miles, who, you may recall, gave such a moving and special performance in the title role of King Lear, back in 2013.

Jon Miles as King Lear in the 2013 production.

The opening night of the Twelfth Night tour - which is taking the play to some slightly more unusual venues - was at Duckaller Farm in Dawlish...and it was a sell-out. Great news for us and for the Roz and Keith who run Duckaller; they took a punt on Shakespeare, and us, and it was a huge success!

Next stop for the tour (1st & 2nd June) is Torre Abbey in Torquay, a 13th century monastery with bags of atmosphere; it's an almost-perfect setting for any Shakespearean play, and we really hope to be doing something on a more regular basis with the team at Torre.

Then we go to Manor Gardens in Exmouth (3rd June), to be part of the Exmouth Festival. Another first for us and for the Festival.

Off to the Avon Mill Garden Centre on 18th June (said the venues were unusual!) for another first-time venue for Will and us and Cheryl, who owns Avon Mill. This one's already sold out, so we must be doing something right!

And the tour winds up, as it did last year, at Pecorama, Beer, on 25th June.

Tickets for any of these remaining shows can be found here but if you want to see us at Pecorama, you need to go here - but don't delay, they're going fast; and I know everybody says that...but it's true!

A couple of shots from the Dress rehearsal for Twelfth Night, which took place at Hole Farm...and no, Feste doesn't usually have a dog, but he was a special guest appearance!

As you can see, it's been a pretty busy year, and after Romeo and Juliet, who knows what the future may hold!

We have yet to reach a decision on the 2017 production, but we have a few ideas and, if the poll we took is anything to go by, then the front-runners are 'The Winter's Tale' and 'Othello'...but we shall see.

And as for a tour at the end of 2016 and on into 2017? Who knows. It takes a huge amount of work to organise and the people who are involved in getting it all out there have other stuff going on as well. But it is something we enjoy, despite the groans! 

If you'd like to buy tickets for Romeo and Juliet

just click on the poster above and it will whisk

you away to our website, where you can find links to 

the box office...and have a look at some of the 

wonderful pictures from Merry Wives and 

all our previous productions.

And we won't leave it another year until we catch up with you!!

Promise.

Feel Free To Move...But Not Too Much!

The Merry Wives of Windsor...the musical?
Funny, isn't it? The more 'modern' we become the more traditional and, for want of a better word, Shakespearean we find ourselves being.
We really are a very lucky bunch of thesps because last night we were delighted to welcome to rehearsals (for the big finale!) our choreographer, Suzie, and the man who's writing the music especially for this production, Mr. Ben Malley.

Without giving too much away - and to clarify the 'ancient and modern' comment above - there is a section towards the end of the play that entails Herne the Hunter, faeries, hobgoblins and more mayhem. Ben has created a soundscape for the opening section and set some of Will's words to a lovely tune for Sally to sing. And as modern as it sounds, there is a wonderful feeling of the traditional music that could be heard in the Globe when Will was plying his trade.

Suzie worked with pretty much the entire cast on getting the traffic from A to B, without disrupting the flow of the words and the feel of the poetry, and on to C. There was initial choreography for the final curtain-call song and dance, which reprises the Sal Song, and also reminds us that this was the way that performances ended at the Globe (The Swan, The Rose etc etc). So it is a modern dress version of the play but with real Shakespearean values. It's already feeling like a classic!

Working on the 'let's torment Falstaff' scene

And there is definite debt of gratitude to paid to the entire cast and all the practitioners from last year's production too. As you recall, it was a Commedia dell'arte rendering of 'The Taming of the Shrew', which required some real physicality and stepping-out-of-the-comfort-zone from all involved. 
And the confidence gained whilst working on that has spilled over into this year's rehearsals with a vengeance! 

The levels of commitment and skill were sky-high; everyone worked together (as they should) and had a brilliant time transferring Suzie's ideas to their performances and the scene as a whole. The bloke in the front had the hardest time though. You've got no idea how tiring it is to just sit around and watch everyone else dance about a bit.

Dancing about a bit!

Wives has been described, not only by me, as anarchic (not showing respect for official or accepted rules and behaviour - thank you Oxford English!) and it is all of that, but it is also fabulously funny, a little rude (quite a lot rude, actually) and, in places quite scary and cruel. The end scenes that we were rehearsing last night, whilst having a funny element, also included some of the things an Elizabethan/Jacobean audience would have found remarkably scary and unnerving.  

(Not dissimilar to the Witches in Macbeth; we may not find them particularly frightening, but back then? And the same applies to the faeries in The Dream and spirits in The Tempest. Other-worldly stuff was something you might have poo-pooed then...but you still made the sign of the eye to ward them off!)

The comedy in Wives is derived from a lecherous old soldier trying to have his way with two virtuous wives and their revenge upon him for his crass belief that they could ever find him remotely attractive. Yet. Yet the comedy ending involves something darker than that - the complete humiliation of the man using the scariest (at that time!) means possible. Add a bit of torture and pinching and you've got the perfect Elizabethan comedy! Here's a thing: within the Shakespearean canon, The Merchant of Venice is classed as comedy. Really?

Chase me!

'Where's Bede? Go you, and where you find a maid

That, ere she sleep, has thrice her prayers said,

Raise up the organs of her fantasy;

Sleep she as sound as careless infancy:

But those as sleep and think not on their sins,

Pinch them, arms, legs, backs, shoulders, sides and shins.'

Not only does the scene scare, it is also reinforces the religious message of the time: pray, be virtuous and all will be well but if you don't repent your sins, well...just read the last two lines again. And these lines are spoken by a vicar!

Elves, list your names; silence, you airy toys.

Cricket, to Windsor chimneys shalt thou leap:

Where fires thou find'st unraked and hearths unswept,

There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry:

Our radiant queen hates sluts and sluttery.

Even the faeries and their queen won;t let you get away with it! Then comes the song that sums it all up.

Fie on sinful fantasy!

Fie on lust and luxury!

Lust is but a bloody fire,

Kindled with unchaste desire,

Fed in heart, whose flames aspire

As thoughts do blow them, higher and higher.

Pinch him, fairies, mutually;

Pinch him for his villany;

Pinch him, and burn him, and turn him about,

Till candles and starlight and moonshine be out.

Personally, I feel quite sorry for poor old Falstaff...but I would.

Should have gone to Specsavers!

Finally, this is our Suzie, working the socks off of the cast and getting, we hope, the results both she and Jilly want. 

See the final results of all the hard work at Dartmouth Castle from 4th August. You can get your tickets from here.

We're Back In The (Rehearsal) Room!

Well well well...it has been a while, hasn't it?
But, as intimated, we are back in the rehearsal room and working as hard (if not harder) as ever.
After the resounding success of Dartmouth Shakespeare Week in 2014, we were always going to be hard-pushed to come up with something equally as adventurous and entertaining but also something that pushed our creative limits and buttons. 

As you know, we have a committee that works incredibly hard during our 'down' time, to bring together all the components that comprise a production. And one of the things they do is, whilst one production is rehearsing and getting put in place, they are deciding what the following year's play will be.

And so it was while The Shrew was coming together, they were chewing the fat as to what we would do in 2015...and who would direct. This time round, they asked the person they wanted to direct to have a look at three plays and make a couple of decisions: A) Do you want to direct? and B) If the answer to A) is yes then which of these do you fancy?

A) YES!
B) The Merry Wives of Windsor.

And here we are, back in the rehearsal room with Jill Brock at the helm steering us through another first for the Company. A modern dress production of Shakespeare's ridiculously anarchic comedy.
You may remember Jill from previous productions...

Jill as Katherina, with Rich Turley as Petruchio,
in the 2014 production of
The Taming of the Shrew

Jill as Regan in King Lear - 2013

Jill has managed something quite astounding: she dragged us into the 20th century with her vision of The Merry Wives of Windsor. The play was written in or around 1594 and tells the convoluted tale of Sir John Falstaff - low on cash, self-esteem and options - and his plan to woo two wives and have his way with them and their husband's money. There are plenty of other things going on as well, in typical Shakespearean fashion. The young lovers who are being thwarted by parental wishes; the suitors (an idiotic young nobleman and a mad French doctor) both vying for the hand of the young lady; a scheming go-between in the shape of Mistress Quickly; Falstaff's side-kicks, Pistol and Nim, adding to the chaos and the wives themselves, along with their husbands, all plotting and planning to achieve their own ends.

Jill wanted to do something radically different for this production - so she decided to set it in the 1950's...so it's modern-dress, but not that modern: one step at a time, please!
Along with her assistant director, Lynne Deller, Jill's guiding everyone in the cast through the complex story and enthusing them all with the way she sees things coming together. We have a real live choreographer for various scenes (I shall get shot if I give too much away) and there will be specially commissioned music, performed by a live band that will be on stage for the performances.
And for those who love all the spectacular costumes that are usually associated with one of our productions, fear not! The costumes this year will be of an equally spectacular nature, just from a different era.

James Osben (Reverend Huw Evans) and
Max Brandt (Sir John Flastaff) back in the room.

Shaunagh Radcliffe and Gina Carter as
Mistresses Page and Ford...or is it Ford and Page?

Gil Garland (Justice Shallow) and James Osben.

And, as ever, everybody is having a huge amount of fun getting to grips with the script and all the insanity it entails.
Once again we have come up with something, for us, that is very different and something that, we hope, the audience will love...they haven't let us down in all the years we've been doing this.

We are also more than little proud of the fact that, once again, we are affiliated to the Royal Shakespeare Company and also that we have, since last year, acquired our very own patron.

Michael Corbidge - senior voice and text coach with the RSC

Michael Corbidge worked with us on The Shrew, offering invaluable insights to the text and helping the cast to maximise their vocal skills and presentation for the massive space that is our performance area up at Dartmouth Castle. And at the end of that process, not only did we have a magnificent show, we had a wonderful new patron!




And Michael will be working with us again this year, running workshops for the cast and working with individual members to hone their characterisations and give the entire production another special facet.




  








It really is a very exciting time for the company as a whole. We have some amazing new young performers joining us for the first time this year as well as some old friends renewing their acquaintance with us, including the lovely Jenny Gould, who has the unenviable task of over-seeing the costumes for the Merry Wives production.




Get your tickets for The Wives by going HERE!

AND IN OTHER NEWS...

Not only are we back in the room for The Wives but, for our sins, we are back there for a final run at The Dream.
After a huge amount of too-ing and fro-ing (which is another story entirely, and one too long and boring to go into here!) we are also doing a special, one-off performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream on 27th June at Pecorama in East Devon...it's just outside Beer. So not only is Jill having to wrestle and wrangle with all the complexities of The Wives, she's also refreshing her memory (along with everyone else involved) for playing Titania.

You can see on the poster where to get tickets for this last ever production of The Dream (last ever by us, at least!) - so if you missed it last year at Hazelwood House or The Bike Shed or the special charity gig at Hole Farm, NOW is the time to rectify that error and come and enjoy a a brilliant production in a really magnificent setting! Bring a picnic and get carried away by it all! 

AND FINALLY...

You may recall, early in the blog, that the committee make a decision about the next year's production while working on the present one? So, just to whet your appetite for 2016 - the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death - here is what we will be presenting then. No director as yet, we await the word from that person. It's a big decision for them to make: time-consuming and life-consuming. Watch this space.