King John
Trevor Nunn returns to the Rose Theatre!
King John
Trevor Nelson returns to the Rose as he directs his penultimate Shakespeare play!
King John
Trevor Nunn returns to the Rose Theatre!
Why see King John?
Trevor Nunn returns to the Rose Theatre!
Following last year's colossal success staging the War Of The Roses plays at the Rose Theatre, Sir Trevor Nunn is back once again to tackle another of Shakespeare's "King" plays (making this his penultimate effort to stage all 40). This time, King John takes centre stage as the ruthless and politically savvy Plantagenet king.
What is it about?
Determined to hold the throne for himself despite France demanding he abdicate in favour of his nephew, Prince Arthur, John devises a stunningly cruel plan to thwart their plans. But he hasn't counted on his rivals to put Arthur on the throne.
With scheming and politicking that inspired the Game of Thrones series,we are granted a rare chance to see the man behind the adage "the walking disaster of a ruler", as well as meeting some of the Bard's most infamous characters including the bombastic Philip the Bastard, and his younger brother Falconbridge. We learn how allegiances can change at the turn of a heel, and watch whilst our anti-hero succumbs to plans that are even more outrageous than the ones he devised first.
Key Information
Audience
Suitable for ages 13+
Run Time
Three hours with interval
Dates
Finished 5 Jun 2016
Cast
Jamie Ballard as King John
Howard Charles
Lisa Dillon
Maggie Steed
Ignatius Anthony
Joe Bannister
Burt Caesar
Tom Chapman
Elisabeth Hopper
Stephen Kennedy
Dominic Mafham
Chris Andrew Mellon
Dale Rapley
Miles Richardson
Carmen Rodriguez
David Shelley
Jon Tarcy
Harry Marcus
Sebastian Croft.
Creative
Directed by Trevor Nunn
Associate Direction by Michael Oakley
Set and Costume Design by Mark Friend
Concept Design by John Napier
Lighting Design by Paul Pyant
Sound Design by Fergus O'Hare
Composer/Arrangements by Corin Buckeridge
Casting by Ginny Schiller
Reviews
Customer reviews
5 reviews, average rating: (4.8 Stars)
Luke
A clever and thoroughly comedic production.
A well composed script, tells the story of a charismatic London restaurantuer and his visit to an old aqaintance in North West London. Well casted and a real
seam of rich British humour runs through the play, whilst managing, ably to raise some wider pithy big society issues . The set is fantastic, a grubby council flat
with a very impressive backdrop. Be sure to have pre-theatre dinner as Mulligan cooks up a spaghetti bolognese live on stage! Go and see Skylight, for laughs
with Nighy and some well constructed 'fall guy' set pieces from Mulligan.
... Read more
Pierre O'Hallaran
Skylight
Saw this play 19 years ago with Micheal Gambon and Lia Williams an d loved it. Back then the play seemed to have more of a political punch as the country had grown to detest the sleazy Tory government
and
the left/right divide was more pronounced and topical. The play when first produced was set in the present and remains set in the early 1990s which again means that it loses some of its sharpness. Still, it's
always nice to see Bill Nighy (his psychiatrist in Blue Orange remains a personal treasure) and Carey Mulligan looks rather wonderful all the time. Nighy returns to the role of Tom and turns
in a charming rant of a performance with the audience and Kyra (Mulligan) hanging on his every word. If a little contrived at times, the dialogue is on the whole plausible and witty with both characters picking
out the flaws in each others' choices and lives. It is Mulligan who does not seem quite at peace with the role of Kyra, alas. ... Read more
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