Read Not Dead was launched in 1995 and brings actors, audiences and scholars together to explore and celebrate the plays performed in London and on its stages before 1642. The ground-rules are simple. Actors are given a script on a Sunday morning and work with a director to get the play up on its feet - with entrances and exits, token costume and music if needed. They present it, script in hand, to an audience at 16:00. These are not intended to be polished productions. However, there is a shared spirit of adventure and excitement for actors and audiences who sense that they might be uncovering a hidden gem.The Fancies Chaste and Noble - T0859964849Castamela, the sister of Livio, is persuaded to join the Bower of Fancies, an establishment for young women under the control of Octavio, the marquis of Siena. Livio is appalled: stories of prostitution, lesbianism and sexual extravagance convince the outside world that Octavio is running a sort of harem. But as Octavio's nephew Troylo-Savelli reveals to Livio, the marquis is impotent: all the women within the Bower are safe from assault, and spend their time dancing and singing. Unconvinced, Livio extracts his sister and attempts to marry her to the poor but respectable Romanello. But Castamela's reputation has preceded her, and Romanello rejects her as a whore. Will Castamela ever find a husband after her sojourn in the Bower of Fancies? First performed by Queen Henrietta's Men in 1635-6, The Fancies Chaste and Noble is an entertaining drama of gossip, rumour and sexual double standards. | |
| 6 Sep 15 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L853242438 |
Perkin Warbeck - T1273893976First published in 1634, The Chronicle History of Perkin Warbeck, A Strange Truth was first performed by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Cockpit playhouse in Drury Lane. The scene is England, in the aftermath of the Wars of the Roses. Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch, rules a country exhausted by civil strife. But his position is challenged by the mysterious Perkin Warbeck, who claims he is really Richard IV, one of the Yorkist princes committed to the Tower during the reign of Richard III and never seen again. Is Perkin ? or Richard ? really who he seems? Imposter or rightful king, Perkin sets out to claim the throne, backed by James IV of Scotland and a group of Irish followers. Ford's exceptional history play challenges the Tudor myth, by pitting the more calculating Henry against the compassionate but ultimately ineffectual Warbeck. | |
| 28 Jun 15 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L1733778195 |
The Queen - T01454450787Published anonymously in 1653 before later attribution to Ford, The Queen, or The Excellency of Her Sex, follows Alphonso, the leader of a failed rebellion against the Queen of Aragon, as he is condemned and sentenced to death. The Queen herself intercedes and learns that his hostility stems from a deep-rooted misogyny, and that he cannot bear the thought of being ruled by a woman. But the Queen, having fallen in love with the rebel at first sight, pardons and marries him. As she and her court struggle to persuade the new King from his bitter resentment of the fairer sex, Alphonso himself must contend with his evolving feelings for his wife before the two can be reconciled in blissful matrimony.Author John Ford. | |
| 17 May 15 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L01550961780 |
The Faithful Friends - T01340006994In Rome, best friends Marius and Marcus must use all their wiles to defeat a court conspiracy that seeks their downfall. But who can they trust - when even the King plots to seduce Marcus's chaste wife, the beautiful Philadelphia? Once thought to be by Beaumont and Fletcher, The Faithful Friends successfully reworks the themes of some better-known Jacobean plays including The Maid's Tragedy and Jonson's Roman dramas. This performance is the final Read Not Dead of the Shakespeare & Friendship season.Author Anon. (Published c.1614). | |
| 19 Apr 15 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L0732508197 |
John Lyly Celebration - Mother Bombie - T01548688762They say you are a witch'. 'They lie. I am a cunning woman'. Unlike Lyly’s other fantastic comedies, Mother Bombie is set in the real world of Rochester, where a mysterious old woman watches as parents haggle over their children’s love lives. As characters learn new things about their own identities, the audience learns the truth of the warning, 'Beware of Mother Bombie'. Co-ordinated by James Wallace who will be joined in a post-show discussion by Andy Kesson, Perry Mills, Leah Scragg and members of the cast. | |
| 21 Nov 10 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L171457721 |
Alphonsus Emperor of Germany - T1676048065Shakespeare in German. Chapman’s name was often used to promote other writers’ works and this may be one such case. Whoever wrote it did not let historical accuracy get in the way of a good plot - here the story of a ruthless emperor who never learned to share. Although not published until 1654, the play dates from the 1590s. Some scenes in Henry V suggest that Shakespeare knew this play.Author George Chapman (1654). | |
| 21 Nov 10 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L1985212187 |
Albertus Wallenstein - T0367484333Wallenstein had been assassinated only a few years before this play about him was staged. Schiller knew Glapthorne’s play when he embarked upon his more famous version a century and a half later.Author Henry Glapthorne (1640). | |
| 14 Nov 10 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L0123002662 |
The Chances (1617) - T110105339Spaniard Don John, wandering Bologna’s streets in the dusk with his friend Don Frederick, is abruptly handed a bundle by a waiting-woman. He opens it, expecting money or jewels ... and finds he is quite literally holding the baby. This Jacobean tour-de-force unrolls a glorious plot of revenge, farce, beautiful women, magic - and that mystery baby.Author John Fletcher. | |
| 19 Sep 10 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L847324450 |
The Sea Voyage (1622) - T275788500The Sea Voyage begins with a storm straight from The Tempest, taking us to a pair of islands, one barren, one lush - the former home to several shipwrecked Europeans, the latter the turf of a tribe of Amazons, who are dreaming lustfully about men when our hero Albert swims ashore...Author John Fletcher. Author Philip Massinger. | |
| 15 Aug 10 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L685120767 |
Virtue Betrayed (or Anna Bullen) - T0122654722Leading actors and directors present 'performances with scripts' of plays and poems by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. A follow-up to Shakespeare's Henry VIII.Author John Banks. | |
| 18 Jul 10 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L02077416687 |
An Humorous Day's Mirth - T977083068Globe actors read George Chapman's humours' comedy, one of the biggest hits of the late 1590s stage, as part of Read Not Dead, their popular series of dramatic readings.Author George Chapman. | |
| 6 Sep 09 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L0973999413 |
T01711494826This autumn the Globe Education Season Shakespeare, Gresham and the City explores Elizabethan London's rise to the commercial capital of Europe. With the decline of Antwerp the rapid growth of London is reflected by the period's playwrights who present a complex yet celebratory view of the City. This season is dominated by the tales of the two famous Tudor Thomases - both members of the Mercers' company: Sir Thomas More and Sir Thomas Gresham. The first was a humanist philosopher, statesman and martyr; the second, one of the richest men of his day: a merchant prince, banker, and financial agent for Elizabeth I. | |
| 4 Nov 01 to 2 Dec 01 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L1267577033 |
T0296754276Staged reading of the forgotten works which provide a context for the plays in rep. 'Rarely Played' , at 12:00, introduces the reading. | |
| 12 Aug 01 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L0118975001 |
King Lear and His Daughters - T0542344737Staged readings of the forgotten works which provide a context for 'Macbeth', 'King Lear' and 'Cymbeline'.. 'Rarely Played', at 12:00 introduces the reading. | |
| 22 Jul 01 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L701282838 |
T0500424858Staged readings of the forgotten works which provide a context for 'Macbeth' and 'King Lear'. 'Rarely Played', at 12:00, introduces the readings. | |
| 24 Jun 01 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L559072376 |
Other listings | |
| 2 Sep 01 | Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, West End :: V165 listing details L1118293825 |
