Tag: Nigel Pentland

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, 5 November 1994

If my memory serves me correctly, we saw Peer Gynt as a matinee on the Saturday and then Twelfth Night in the evening. It might have been the other way around.

Anyway, Janie and I voted this one very good, as indeed we voted Peer Gynt.

Coincidentally, I realise at the time of writing (October 2019, almost exactly 25 years later), Janie and I saw Emma Fielding star at Stratford again last week in A Museum In Baghdad.

A Museum In Baghdad by Hannah Khalil, Royal Shakespeare Company, Swan Theatre, 14 October 2019

I also realise that this Twelfth Night experience was almost exactly 15 years after my own “legendary” Alleyn’s School production of Twelfth Night:

Twelfth Night, Alleyn’s School, 12, 14, 15 & 16 December 1978

Gosh.

Anyway, this 1994 production of Twelfth Night has all the cast and crew listed on Theatricalia – here.

Just one on-line review – Paul Taylor in The Independent, who hated it while admitting that his was probably a minority view.

Also this Michael Billington clipping to be had:

Billington On Twelfth NightBillington On Twelfth Night Fri, May 27, 1994 – 32 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Also Michael Coveney’s review is there to be clipped:

Coveney On Twelfth NightCoveney On Twelfth Night Sun, May 29, 1994 – 73 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

We really liked it. Des Barrit an obvious highlight but Emma Fielding was excellent as always and Tony Britton made an excellent Belch…as it were.

I vaguely remember dining at the Shakespeare after theatre that night…or did we do the Shakespeare after Pentecost and Fatty’s after this? Who cares?

Pentecost by David Edgar, The Other Place, 4 November 1994

In amongst the heave of getting Z/Yen started that autumn, Janie and I did make the time for a solitary long weekend in Stratford-Upon-Avon, during which we saw three plays.

Not exactly a rest cure…

…said Janie, when I latterly (c25 years later, October 2019) showed her the evidence of that weekend.

The evidence shows that we stayed at The Shakespeare Hotel that time; I think for the second and possibly the last time. We found the room a bit pokey.

Anyway, we saw this David Edgar play on the Friday evening and thought it superb. I’ve always been a fan of Edgar’s plays and this is a good example of his work.

Wikipedia is not all that forthcoming about the play – click here – but I learn that we saw the premier and that it won an Evening Standard Award the following year on transfer to The Young Vic.

Theatricalia sets out the cast and crew here.

I’ve managed to find a contemporaneous review of this one on-line – Paul Taylor from the Independent – click here…

…scraped to here just in case the above link goes down.

Here’s a Michael Billington clipping:

Billingtpn On PentecostBillingtpn On Pentecost Fri, Oct 28, 1994 – 40 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Billington On Pentecost Part TwoBillington On Pentecost Part Two Fri, Oct 28, 1994 – 41 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Here’s Michael Coveney’s take:

Coveney On PentecostCoveney On Pentecost Sun, Oct 30, 1994 – 79 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Anyway, we loved this play/production, that’s for sure. The notion of art and culture fusing/transferring both from west to east and from east to west is more or less received wisdom now, but the debate in the play, especially while the southern slavic region of Europe was still in turmoil, felt very topical and of the moment in 1994.

Did we eat in Fatty Arbuckle’s that evening? Quite possibly, but unless more evidence turns up we’ll not know for sure.