In our 32 page Souvenir Programmes, we always have a chat with the director about their take on the show and their journey to the performance.
Here's an exclusive extract of our conversation with Tom Littler, who has directed a number of our best-loved shows, including our most popular open-air one to date, Love's Labour's Lost in 2018.
In the press you’ve commented that All’s Well is a favourite of yours, what is it about the play that you are drawn to?
Yes, I love this play. I’m interested in the complexity and the messiness of the characters in All’s Well. Sometimes our happiness is hard won and comes at a price; there’s a maturity to the writing in All’s Well that suggests a writer who’s lived a conflicted, interesting life! The thing that has always struck me about the play, and that obviously informed this production, is the pattern of loss: Helena, Bertram, and Diana have all recently lost their fathers; the Widow and the Countess have lost their husbands. Of course the other great Shakespearean investigation of loss is Hamlet - but this play enacts a very different model of grieving, loss, and renewal.
Of course, there's much more from Tom in the programme, including a discussion on the female characters who drive the play, his take on Bertram, and just how much of a 'fairy-tale for grown-ups' All's Well is.
All our programmes are created in-house and contain 80% written material, this time featuring:
- an essay on what was happening in Shakespeare's life which may have influenced his writing of the play by Co-Founder Matt Pinches
- a spotlight on our co-producer Jermyn Street Theatre
- an interview with our Trustee and this summer's Falstaff Peter Gordon
- an update on our Outreach programme
- rehearsal photos, designs, company biographies, and more!
Programmes are just £3.50 and you can order them in advance when you make your booking.
All proceeds go to directly to ensuring GSC can continue to make inspiring theatre.
