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Home , Shakespeare in Love, Sir Andrew Aguecheek

About the Production

Paul Crewes Rachel Fine Artistic Director Managing Director Filter’s By Paul Taylor PRESENTS

When the Royal Shakespeare Company Woolf could not have anticipated, but I illustrate ’s motivations, first commissioned Filter to make a think she would have acknowledged, the Filter discovered that the steward is a creative response to Twelfth Night, as imaginative force of Filter’s response to frustrated rock star who has pathetic, a feature of the great Complete Works the play’s strange acoustic atmosphere. private dreams of strutting his stuff in project that unfolded in Stratford in The stage for their version of Twelfth some vast stadium. Filter Theatre in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company 2006–2007, it might have been thought Night is more reminiscent of a rock insane that the rehearsal time was just gig than a straight play, strewn as it It is a key feature of the Filter style that ten days. But there may well have been is with sound equipment and musical they aim not at some staid simulacrum a method in that technical madness. instruments. is briefed about or complete transcription of a classic her new surroundings by the level, play, but rather, choose to concentrate Fast and foreshortened conditions impersonal tones of a BBC shipping on, and arrestingly highlight, certain for preparation of this event pitched forecast seeping through a transistor undervalued aspects of it. Why do Filter into roughly the same kind of radio. In a brilliant stroke, characters they not try to commandeer the full delirium and purposeful perversities press microphones to their brows and orchestra? I think that the underlying TWELFTH with which Twelfth Night confronts the these devices seem to be able to pick impulse – whether it be in Brecht shipwrecked Viola and her sundered up the music of their minds. It’s a great (whose Caucasian Chalk Circle they identical twin when they fetch up on the joke that when first does exhilaratingly refreshed) or in Chekhov shores of at the start of this play. this, nothing whatsoever is heard. But (whose Three Sisters they revivified Twelfth Night is ambiguous, and not then he’s an anomaly here in more ways so that you seemed to be watching just sexually – with its gender-crossed than one. Decked out in a huge ruff, the original Russian deposited NIGHT antics that propel a girl disguised as boy doublet and pink hose, this tyrannous through violent time-lapse photography BY CREATED BY DIRECTED BY into a bout of painful proxy wooing on drunken sponger is a chaotic tribute to onto the stage in the shape of their behalf of a man who desires a girl who the RSC’s wardrobe department. First contemporary equivalents) is to try to Filter Theatre Sean Holmes promptly falls in love with the disguised heard reciting ’s “To be or not make audiences actively participate emissary who, in turn, becomes smitten to be…” speech and addicted to cans of as they would if challenged with a MUSIC & SOUND BY by the man. Illyria is a topsy-turvy land, Special Brew, he is the only character completely new work. Filter – who Tom Haines & Ross Hughes betokening the licensed misrule of in “period” dress, the others all wearing seem, to me, to be the most creative Twelfth Night (January 6, the Feast of the the casual contemporary mufti of jeans beneficiaries of the methods patented ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS Epiphany) that was the order of the day and sneakers. by Simon McBurney and Complicite – Oliver Dimsdale & Ferdy Roberts in Elizabethan and Jacobean times. The do, of course, also, create their own play is also a slippery, double-natured The production’s alternative, punk free-standing pieces, pre-eminently the being. It looks back, in the farcical mix- style can be traced back to a series superb Water (2007). This piece made STARRING ups caused by twins, to an early drama of workshops conducted by Filter and myriad-minded play, metaphorically Francesca Zoutewelle as such as Comedy of Errors; and it looks director Sean Holmes at the National and plot-wise, with the idea that, in a Gemma Saunders as / forward, in its marine imagery and Studio on the subject of globally-warming world, the molecular Jonathan Broadbent as /Sir Andrew Aguecheek charged intensity of its reunions, to the the body. The rehearsal process of structure of water, which longs to bond Amy Marchant as Viola/Sebastian late romances, such as Pericles and The researching problems in small groups with other elements, offers a flexible Winter’s Tale. with a single brief and quick deadline image of how the geo-political world Ferdy Roberts as Malvolio and then collectively pooling the results needs to re-connect with itself in order Oliver Dimsdale as Sir Toby Belch The imaginative use of sound is a Filter was initiated there. It’s one of the to head off planetary disaster. speciality. No play of Shakespeare’s hallmarks of Filter that the immediacy MUSICIANS yearns for music and song so much as of rehearsal room technique is carried The company are developing a cult status Alan Pagan & Ross Hughes does Twelfth Night. Orsino, the Count through into the style of the productions (the Lyric, Hammersmith is said to have who is as much in love with love as he when they are shown to the public. This received more letters of celebration is with the rich Olivia, calls for it in the is the case here in wonderful conception and more letters of complaint than ever COMPANY STAGE MANAGER comedy’s famous opening speech: “If of Malvolio, the repressively puritan before after their Three Sisters). But Christie DuBois music be the food of love, play on,/Give steward who is a walking affront to the then experiment is, by its very nature, me excess of it…” Reviewing a revival at spirit of comedy: self-satisfied, self- challenging - and to divide audiences is US TOUR PRODUCER the Old Vic in 1933, the novelist Virginia deceived, socially ambitious and, in his a great deal better than to leave them Woolf was eloquently impressed by this own mind’s eye, a great match for Olivia. numbly non-committal. Andrew Hamingson and Tim Smith quality in the piece: “the play seems… for Pemberley Productions to tremble perpetually on the brink of The technique, whereby a microphone Paul Taylor is the theatre reviewer for the music”. She writes of a Shakespeare pressed to the head seems to detect the UK’s Independent newspaper. whose whole mind is “mobilised and inner weather of the characters, was under control but with feelers left flying adapted, during rehearsals, in a manner MARCH 14 - 19, 2017, 2017 that sport and play with words so that that gave the company the clue as to Bram Goldsmith Theater the trail of a chance word is caught and how to play this marvellous part. By followed recklessly” pointing the microphone interrogatively Running Time: 90 minutes with no intermission. at the musicians when required to

PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P15 About the Artists AboutAbout the the Program Artists

FRANCESCA Shakespeare Film Company. He also voices the OLIVER DIMSDALE (Sir Twelfth Night with Filter (London/Touring); American Players Theatre production of In Acting production out of Brecht’s didacticism, true to the ZOUTEWELLE (Olivia) characters of Bill and Ben in the popular Toby Belch / Associate Director) Pornography by Simon Stephens (Traverse and Shakespeare by James DeVita. playwright’s vision. Three Sisters dusted off trained at RADA graduating in animation series Thomas The Tank Engine. In trained at Guildhall School of Birmingham Rep); The English Game by Richard cobwebs so often found in English Chekhov 2013. She has previously 2010 Jonathan was the recipient of the Fox Music & Drama. As Co-Founder Bean (Headlong); The Man Who Had All The Luck FILTER THEATRE (Producer) Led by actors productions, with a stripped-away design and worked for Filter appearing in Foundation Fellowship. He is represented by and Co-Artistic Director he has by Arthur Miller (Donmar Warehouse); The Oliver Dimsdale and Ferdy Roberts, and composer ensemble acting that served to highlight the A Midsummer’s Nights Dream Independent Talent Group. worked on all of Filter’s Entertainer by John Osborne (Old Vic); and Julius Tim Phillips, Filter has been creating innovative, timelessness of the writing; A Midsummer Night’s in Brisbane and Dublin. projects. Other theatre Caesar, The Roman , Richard III and Measure exciting theatre since 2003. Filter’s unique Dream was a joyous, riotous interpretation of a Theatre credits include: Hamlet (Trafalgar AMY MARCHANT (Viola) includes: The Argument (Hampstead), A Tale Of for Measure (RSC); Moonlight and Magnolias, The collaborative language explores the interaction well-worn classic; was a bold sonic Studios), All My Sons (Rose Theatre), Hamlet, studied English Literature at Two Cities (Northampton Royal Theatre); The Price (also for Tricycle). He was an Associate Director between sound, music, text, and movement, in a experiment, the wayward sisters delving into the Who’s There (Park Theatre and European Tour), The University of Leeds before Creeper (Playhouse Theatre); The Comedy Of of the Oxford Stage Company from 2001 to 2006 desire to make stories that awaken the imaginative dark recesses of the ’ minds through Into The Woods, Britannia Waves The Rules, Them training as an actor at LAMDA, Errors (Sheffield Crucible); Pravda (Chichester and has worked for the National Theatre and RSC as senses of an audience. Working out of a real sense sound alone; and Filter’s radical interpretation of Last Days Of Troy (Royal Exchange Manchester) graduating in 2013. She is an Festival Theatre); (RSC); Great well as the Royal Court Theatre, Donmar of trust, and retaining a robust emotional honesty Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night reflects the anarchic Merlin (Royal and Derngate) and A Chrismas Carol Associate Artist of The Willow Expectations, The Dead Wait (Manchester Royal Warehouse and Chichester Festival Theatre. and playfulness, the company creates new works of energy running throughout the play. (Birmingham Rep). She has been seen on and Vamp Exchange) for which he won a Manchester original theatre, as well as dynamic incarnations of television, with roles in Lewis, Poirot and Theatre Company. Her theatre credits include Evening News Award for Best Actor. He has CHRISTIE DUBOIS (Company Stage Manager) existing texts. There are many new works in the pipeline for Filter. Midsomer Murders (both ITV), Holby City (BBC), Filter’s Twelfth Night (India, USA and UK tour), worked extensively in television, with roles in originally from Alaska, whose credits include Among them are Broken Pine: A Western for the Agatha Raisin (Sky). Film credits include: The Shakespeare in Love (West End) and To Sir, With Ransom, Grantchester, Mr Selfridge, Downton Home Chat (Finborough Theatre), & Filter is at the forefront of contemporary theatre- stage, directed by Michael Boyd and written by Head Hunter and Mr. Turner. Love (UK tour). Film credits include Confection Abbey, Ambassadors, Utopia, He Knew He Was ( Playhouse), Twelfth Night (Filter Theatre making as a deviser of new pieces. Filter’s first David Greig, exploring how a European odyssey (Misfit Studios) and Big Day (Teng Teng Films). Right, Byron, Fallen Angel, Breaking The Mould Tour to India/America/UK), No Sex, Please-We’re show Faster, inspired by James Gleick’s book about and various cultural collisions combined to create GEMMA SAUNDERS and Harley Street. Film credits include: Journey's British (British Theatre Playhouse, Singapore & the acceleration of everyday life in the modern the United States of America. All Filter’s work tours (Feste/Maria) is an Associate FERDY ROBERTS End, Good People, Rocknrolla, First Night and Kuala Lumpur), The Eighth Wonder of the World world, was developed and first performed at the the UK, Europe and beyond, reaching a wide and Artist for Filter Theatre, Her (Malvolio / Associate Director) Nostradamus. (Brunel Tunnels), The Devil to Pay on Brook Street Battersea Arts Centre in April 2003, where it was a diverse audience, young and old. recent credits include: Theatre: is co-Artistic Director of Filter (Handel House), Twelfth Night (Rudolf Steiner runaway hit with audiences. Faster also played Hermia and Titania in Filter’s A Theatre and an Associate Artist ROSS HUGHES (Composer Theatre), Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (The Soho Theatre, the Lyric Hammersmith, toured the To find out more about Filter visit Midsummer Night’s Dream on of the Lyric, Hammersmith. For / Sound Designer / Musician) Rose Playhouse), Regarding X (Hackney Attic & UK, and visited Germany and New York. Water, www.filtertheatre.com Tour in UK and Europe, RSC Filter he has performed in: trained at Guildhall School of Vauxhall Tavern), (Rudolf Steiner directed by David Farr for The Lyric Hammersmith, or email [email protected] and at the Tricycle, Natasha in Three Sisters at the Macbeth, A Midsummer Music & Drama. His Theatre Theatre) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Rudolf became one of the most talked about productions artistic directors: Lyric Hammersmith, Ludovica/Mother in The Night's Dream, Three Sisters (Lyric Hammersmith), credits include: Mrs. Hudson’s Steiner Theatre). Christie Co-Produced and of 2007, was revived for the Tricycle in 2011, Oliver Dimsdale, Tim Phillips, Ferdy Roberts Caucasian Chalk Circle at the National Theatre, Water (Lyric & Bam NYC) Twelfth Night (Tricycle), Christmas Corker Spymonkey Co-Directed As You Like It and A Midsummer played the Sydney Theatre Company in 2012 and artistic associates: Catherine in Proof at the English Theatre The Caucasian Chalk Circle (National Theatre), Comedy (Wilton’s Music Hall) Night’s Dream and she has also Stage Managed New York’s Next Wave Festival, Bam in November Jonathan Broadbent, Tom Haines, Gemma Saunders Frankfurt, Faster for Filter at the BAC and Soho Faster (London & New York). Other theatre composer/MD, Treasure Island dir. Sean Holmes various musical concerts and opera performances. 2013. An intimate, multi-sensory and highly producer: Tim Smith theatre. TV: Peak Practice, The Innocents, Law and includes: Plaques And Tangles (Royal Court), (Haymarket/ West End) composer/MD, The charged piece of theatrical story-telling, it explores finance manager: Daniel Morgenstern Order UK. Film: What You Will Fluidity Films. Lamped USA (Soho/Hightide) Shakespeare In Love Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic). His TV & Film PEMBERLEY PRODUCTIONS (US Tour deeply personal narratives on two very different marketing: Martin Shippen Radio: Gemma has appeared in over 100 plays for (West End), Open Court, If You Don't Let Us Dream credits include JazzDuck (Amazon) sax ‘voice’, Free Producer) Run by Andrew Hamingson and Tim issues - the bonds and ties of fathers and sons, and the BBC Radio Drama Company. We Won't Let You Sleep (Royal Court), Three Fire (dir Ben Wheatley, score Geoff Barrow/Ben Smith, Pemberley Productions is a producing the legacy of global warming. The second Kingdoms (Lyric/Munich Kammerspiel/Teater Salisbury) reeds, What You Will (Fluidity) company dedicated to bringing European drama collaboration between Filter and Farr, Silence, JONATHAN NO99) Wallenstein (Chichester), The Birthday composer. Production music composer (various to North America and North American drama to premiered in May 2011. Commissioned and BROADBENT (Orsino/ Party, The Dumb Waiter (Bristol Old Vic), libraries) usage includes: Horizon, Louis Theroux, Europe. Its previous projects include the 2015 produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, it’s a Aguecheek) trained at the Frankenstein (Derby Playhouse), Another Country The Great British Bake Off, Portlandia, Big Brother, nine week US tour of Filter’s Twelfth Night, a UK gripping modern thriller with a complex narrative, Guildhall School of Music & (West End), The Changeling, Beautiful Thing Made In Chelsea, The One Show, Film 2016, and USA tour of Paterson Joseph’s one man play cutting from Russia to the UK with a film-like Drama. He received the (Salisbury Playhouse). Television: Dark Angel, Country File, Harry Hill, Tanked, National Sancho, the 2016 US tour of Ensemble Basiani bravura, exploring urban noise, rural emptiness, Clarence Derwent Award for his Foyles War, Whistleblower, The Bill, Goldplated, Geographic, Oddities Science Channel, Discovery from Tbilisi, Georgia (co-produced with David rationalism, spirituality and love. performance of Guy in the Your Mother Should Know, Holby City. Film: What Channel, Jimmy Kimmel. Radio: The Great Scott (9 Eden Productions), The European Tour of The Donmar Warehouse production of My Night With You Will, Mr Nice, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. episodes) and The Purple Land (BBC Radio 4) Public Theater’s Apple Family Plays written and Alongside original work, Filter has produced Reg which transferred to the West End. As a Filter composer. Bands: The London Snorkelling Team/ directed by Richard Nelson (also co-produced with dynamic and innovative interpretations of classic Associate Artist he has collaborated on their ALAN PAGAN (Musician) is clayFM (composer/musician),Portishead (live David Eden Productions) and the Irish tour of texts: Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle for the productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a freelance multi band), Will Gregory’s Moog Ensemble. Studio: National Theatre (2006); Shakespeare’s Twelfth Three Sisters and 12th Night. For the RSC he has instrumentalist specialising in Goldfrapp, Perfume Genius, Scarlet Rascal, Brains Night for the RSC and The Tricycle Theatre (2007); appeared in The Tempest, Queen Anne and Love Drums and Percussion. He has & Hunch. Chekhov’s Three Sisters for the Lyric Hammersmith For Love. Other theatre includes: Peter Pan toured Nationally and (2010); Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s (National Theatre), Grand Guignol (Theatre Royal Internationally with acts and SEAN HOLMES (Director) is Artistic Director of Dream for a UK Tour and Lyric Hammersmith/ Plymouth and Southwark Playhouse), Hamlet companies such as Filter the Lyric Hammersmith. Productions include: Manchester Royal Exchange (2012); Shakespeare’s (Rose Theatre), Ghost Stories (West End), Chekvov Theatre, Charlie Winston (supporting Peter Bugsy Malone, Secret Theatre - Show 1, 2,3, 5 and Macbeth for the Tobacco Factory, autumn 2014 and In Hell (Soho Theatre) The Dumb Waiter, The Turn Gabriel) Vashti, Punch Drunk, The Little Big Tones, 7, Cinderella, Desire under the Elms, Morning, on UK tour 2015. Each project aspired to pin-point Of The Screw and Master Harold And The Boys Ben Huws and many more. Alan's music studio is Have I None, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Saved, the very heart of the plays by uncovering the light (Bristol Old Vic). On television, he has been seen used for composing, supplying drum tracks and Blasted, A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky, and darkness of the language and the lyricism of in Silent Witness, Eastenders, Gimme Gimme for private tuition. www.alanpagan.com Ghost Stories, Three Sisters and Comedians. Other the text. With Caucasian Chalk Circle Filter’s Gimme and Cold War (all BBC) and Alice In theatre includes: The Plough and The Stars, approach was to create a modern and playful Wonderland (Hallmark/Channel 4) Film credits Drumbelly (Abbey Theatre, Dublin) Loot (Tricycle); include: The Magic Flute and As You Like It, Treasure Island (Theatre Royal, Haymarket); directed by Kenneth Branagh for HBO and

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