Details

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. In 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.

Creatives/Company

Author: Anon. (Published c.1614)