Arcola Theatre with thanks to Shakespeare’s Globe READ NOT DEAD programme presents:
Spanish Golden Age: Play in a Day
La Vida Es Sueño (Life is a Dream)
Written in 1635 by Pedro Calderón de la Barca in an English translation by John Clifford
Directed by James Wallace
Cast includes:
Rosaura Beth Park
Clarin Martin Hodgson
Segismundo Oliver Bennett
Clotaldo Alan Cox
Soldier / Courtier James Thorne
Soldier / Courtier Mark Hammersley
Astolfo Mark Knightly
Estrella Daisy Hughes
Basilio David Whitworth
The Read Not Dead project was launched in 1995 by Shakespeare’s Globe Education department (before the Globe Theatre was even built), to perform stage readings with professional casts of all the surviving plays that were produced between 1567 and 1642 (these forgotten classics…and also some not so classic plays), offering an adventure of discovery for actors and audiences alike.
The twist and thrill of Read Not Dead is that the ensemble company are only given a copy of the script of the play they will be performing on the Sunday morning of the performance. The challenge is that the ensemble company of actors will work solidly with the director to then stage the play on its feet by the Sunday afternoon to a live audience.
This Spanish Golden Age: Play in a Day project is supported by the Read Not Dead programme and is run in exactly the same way – meeting, rehearsing and performing a Spanish Golden Age play in a day! This series looks at the influence of Spanish writers working between 1576 and 1642 by exploring works by some of the greatest Spanish dramatists from that period. We start with La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, in an English translation by John Clifford.
Tickets Information and Times
Sunday 2 February 2014
4.00pm in Studio One
£10 (£8 con/FoSG)