SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
Theatre@41 Monkgate, York
"I would stay asleep all my life if I could dream myself into a company of players"
Lee Hall's stage adaptation of Shakespeare in Love, the Oscar-winning film written by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman, is a rollicking celebration of the joys of theatre.
It's a love story about struggling young playwright Will Shakespeare and a feisty, free-thinking young noblewoman who helps him overcome his writer's block and becomes his muse.
And it's a love letter to the stage itself – bursting with humour, wonderful characters and theatrical allusions
Viola de Lesseps is Will’s greatest admirer and will stop at nothing – including breaking the law and dressing as a boy actor – to appear in his next play.
Against a bustling background of mistaken identity, ruthless scheming and backstage theatrics, Will’s love for Viola quickly blossoms, inspiring him to write his greatest romantic masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet.
Funny and moving in equal measures, the stage version of Shakespeare in Love was acclaimed as "riotously enjoyable" and a show that "makes you feel grateful to be alive" when it premiered in London in 2014.
1-9 April 2022
CREATIVES
Adapted for the stage by
Lee Hall based on the screenplay by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman
Music by
Paddy Cunneen
Directed by
Mark Hird
Musical direction by
Natalie Walker
Produced and designed by
Robert Readman
Lighting by
Phoebe Butcher and Ivy Magee
CAST
Will Shakespeare
George Stagnell
Viola de Lesseps
Sanna Jeppsson
Henslowe
Ian Giles
Fennyman
Andrew Isherwood
Richard Burbage
Tony Froud
Ned Alleyn
Robert Readman
Kit Marlowe
Adam Price
Wessex
Jim Paterson
Queen Elizabeth
Joy Warner
Nurse
Beryl Nairn
Tilney
Neil Foster
John Webster
Guy Wilson
Sir Robert de Lesseps/Peter
Mark Simmonds
Ralph
Andrew Roberts
Wabash/Lambert
James Coldrick
Robin/Boatman/Frees
Tom Riddolls
Sam
Ben Weir
Nol/Man with the Dog
Jack Moran
Acting and musical ensemble
Susannah Baines
Tom Bennett
Emma Godivala
Sam Hird
Terry Hunter
Natalie Walker
Jennie Wogan
Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes including interval
George Stagnell returns to the York stage to play Will. George's previous appearances with Pick Me Up include the one-man play Private Peaceful, which was a five-star hit in York and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; Richard in Stephen Dolginoff's Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story; Patsy in Spamalot, and Czolgosz in Sondheim's Assassins.
Sanna Jeppsson, who made her York stage debut last November in York Settlement Community Players' production of The 39 Steps, plays Viola de Lesseps.
The strong cast also includes Ian Giles as Henslowe, Andrew Isherwood as Fennyman, Tony Froud as Richard Burbage, Robert Readman as Ned Alleyn, and Adam Price as Kit Marlowe .
Jim Paterson plays Will's rival in love, Lord Wessex, Beryl Nairn is Viola's doting Nurse, and Neil Foster is Tilney, the obsequious and censorious Master of the Revels.
The director is Mark Hird, who previously directed Edward Albee's The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, Stephen Dolginoff's Monster Makers and Private Peaceful for Pick Me Up, and musical director is Natalie Walker.