Frank and Percy is a poignant and witty take on the unexpected relationship that blossoms between two men. Devoted to their canine companions, they believe that human connection is far more temperamental, but as their dogs play in the park, can Frank, a widowed schoolteacher and Percy, a somewhat radical elder statesman, find the time for new infatuation, or should they just let sleeping dogs lie?
Cast
Roger Allam – Frank
Sir Ian McKellen – Percy
Creative team
Writer: Ben Weatherill
Director: Sean Mathias
Production info
Runs from 9 June until 22 July, 2023 in Theatre Royal Windsor, and from 25 July until 5 August, 2023 in Theatre Royal Bath.
In the heat of summer, Sonya and her Uncle Vanya while away their days on a crumbling estate deep in the countryside, visited occasionally only by the local doctor Astrov.
However, when Sonya’s father Professor Serebryakov suddenly returns with his restless, alluring, new wife Yelena declaring his intention to sell the house, the polite facades crumble and long repressed feelings start to emerge with devastating consequences.
Olivier Award-winner Conor McPherson’s new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece, Uncle Vanya, is a portrayal of life at the turn of the 20th century, full of tumultuous frustration, dark humour and hidden passions.
Cast
Roger Allam – Serebryakov
Toby Jones – Vanya
Richard Armitage – Astrov
Rosalind Eleazar – Yelena
Aimee Lou Wood – Sonya
Anna Calder Marshall – Nana
Dearbhla Molloy – Grandmaman
Peter Wight – Telegin
Creative team
Writer: Anton Checkov
Adaptor: Conor McPherson
Director: Ian Rickson
Designer: Rae Smith
Lighting: Bruno Poet
Composer: Stephen Warbeck
Sound: Ian Dickinson
Movement: Imogen Knight
Production info
When London went into lockdown and theatres were forced to close, Uncle Vanya was in the final weeks of its sold-out run in the West End.
As the live production will not be able to return, a film version of the production was recorded in August 2020. Ciarán Hinds, who was unable to return due to conflicting schedules, is replaced by Roger Allam.
Uncle Vanya will be shown in cinemas ahead of broadcast on the BBC and PBS.
How might a son feel to discover that he is only one of a number of identical copies? What happens when a father is confronted by the results of an outrageous genetic experiment?
A Number won the 2002 Evening Standard Award for Best Play. It addresses the subject of human cloning and identity, especially nature versus nurture. The story, set in the near future, is structured around the conflict between a father and his sons.
Cast
Roger Allam – Salter
Colin Morgan – Bernard 1, Bernard 2, and Michael Black
Rutherford is the owner of a glass factory, an oppressive patriarch who, blind to his children’s hopes, has bullied and undermined them without questioning that one day they will take over the business.
Githa Sowerby’s astonishing play was inspired by her own experience of growing up in a family-run factory in Gateshead. Writing in 1912, when female voices were seldom heard on British stages, she now claims her place alongside Ibsen and Bernard Shaw with this searing depiction of class, gender and generational warfare.
David Hare’s play about the love story at the heart of the foundation of Glyndebourne transfers from its sold-out run at Hampstead Theatre to the West End. In 1934 John Christie, his wife Audrey Mildmay, and three refugees from Nazi Germany founded the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Christie’s admiration for the works of Wagner lead to an ambitious project: building an opera house on his Sussex estate. Passion alone may not be enough to see it through; when a famous violinist is accidentally fogged in overnight, Christie first hears word of a group of refugees – Carl Ebert, Fritz Busch and Rudolf Bing, who might be able to deliver Christie’s vision of the sublime… assuming, of course, that they’re willing to cast his wife in the lead.
Whither Would You Go? is a one-night-only, with a never-to-be-repeated company of actors, at the The Harold Pinter Theatre in London.
Inspired by Shakespeare’s ‘refugee’ speech from The Book Of Sir Thomas More, written as a plea for tolerance during the London riots of May 1517, Whither Would You Go? pairs scenes from Shakespeare with genuine refugee stories from around the world to raise urgently needed funds for refugees worldwide. The show incorporates live theatre, video stories, projection and an original score. There is also a special guest performance by actor Jay Abdo, a refugee of his native Syria.
Cast
Roger Allam
Jay Abdo
Kevin Bishop
Zoe Boyle
Bertie Carvel
Lee Evans
Martin Freeman
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Celia Imrie
Eleanor Matsuura
Wunmi Mosaku
James Norton
Jack Whitehall
Olivia Williams
Creative team
Writer: Ella Smith & Emma West
Director: Jamie Lloyd
All proceeds of the play went to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. You can help refugees by donating on the website or by texting UNHCR to 70025 to donate £10.
One Sunday morning, four prominent Labour politicians – Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins and David Owen – gather in private at Owen’s home in Limehouse, east London. They are desperate to find a political alternative. Should they split their party, divide their loyalties, and risk betraying everything they believe in? Would they be starting afresh, or destroying forever the tradition that nurtured them?
William Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616; the Royal Shakespeare Company commemorates the day with their tribute Shakespeare Live! From the RSC. The live show included scenes from the Bard’s greatest plays performed by a cast of household names, as well as music and dance inspired by his work. Roger Allam plays king Lear in act III, scene 2 of the tragedy. Lear is on the heath during a symbolic storm and the ageing king curses the weather and his daughters, while lamenting his frailty. With: Sanjeev Bhaskar, Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Ann Marie Duff, Pappa Essiedu, Alex Gilbreth, Henry Goodman, Rufus Hound, John Lithgow, Nick Lumley, Ian McKellen, Tim Minchin, Helen Mirren, Al Murray, Rory Kinnear, Pippa Nixon, David Suchet, Meera Syal, Harriet Walter, Alex Waltmann, Rufus Wainwright, and the Prince of Wales. Presented by Catherine Tate and David Tennant. Directed by Gregory Doran.
Reviews
…it was a pleasure to hear Roger Allam as Lear. – The Guardian And it’s hard to quarrel with Roger Allam’s rich, impassioned “Blow you winds” from Lear. – The Sydney Morning Herald The show brilliantly balanced comedy and darkness. As the evening wore on, darker themes from Shakespeare’s tragedies were explored. Ian McKellen and Roger Allam gave intense and enthralling performances of extracts (as Sir Thomas More and King Lear respectively), with their iconic voices rippling through the theatre. – RedbrickBBC iPlayer || buy the DVD || full text || gallery: stage (2016 – now)
To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, The Guardian asked leading actors to perform key speeches from his plays. Roger Allam reads the part of king Lear in act III, scene 2 of the tragedy. Lear is on the heath during a symbolic storm and the ageing king curses the weather and his daughters, while lamenting his frailty.
Michael Billington said:
‘The stage gives you the total picture: the camera can process thought. Most actors playing King Lear have to shout themselves hoarse to compete with a battery of sound-effects during the storm scene. Roger Allam, in this version, is up against nothing more than a wisp of dry-ice and allows the words to do the work: there is an angry defiance about Allam’s Lear so that when he cries: “Spit, fire! Spout, rain!” the plosive consonants evoke the chaos of nature. I can’t wait to see Allam play the king on stage.’ (source) watch || more about Shakespeare Solos || full text
After last autumn’s Seminar, Roger Allam returns to Hampstead Theatre to play John Christie in David Hare’s new play, The Moderate Soprano. In 1934 John Christie, his wife and three refugees from Nazi Germany, founded the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Christie’s admiration for the works of Wagner lead to an ambitious project: building an opera house on his Sussex estate. Passion alone may not be enough to see it through; when a famous violinist is accidentally fogged in overnight, Christie first hears word of a group of refugees – Carl Ebert, Fritz Busch and Rudolf Bing, who might be able to deliver Christie’s vision of the sublime… assuming, of course, that they’re willing to cast his wife, the opera singer Audrey Mildmay, in the lead.
Cast
Roger Allam – John Christie
Nancy Carroll – Audrey Mildmay
Paul Jesson – Dr Fritz Busch
Nick Sampson – Professor Carl Ebert
George Taylor – Rudolf Bing
Creative team
Writer: David Hare Director: Jeremy Herrin Designer: Rae Smith Music: Paul Englishby Lighting: James Farncombe Sound: Tom Gibbons
When asked in 1986 how long the show would last, Frances Ruffelle replied “At least another thirty years.” Three decades later, Les Misérables is the world’s longest running musical. On the 8th of October, the date of the first performance, members of the original company joined the current cast at the special charity gala performance at the Queen’s Theatre. All profit went in aid of the Syria Children’s Appeal by Save the Children Fund. The special finale can be watched online exclusively for a limited time from 23 October by donating at JustGiving.com to Save the Children Syria Children’s Appeal.
Cast
Peter Lockyer – Jean Valjean
Jeremy Secomb – Javert
Rachelle Ann Go – Fantine
Carrie Hope Fletcher – Éponine
Phil Daniels – Thénardier
Katy Secombe – Madame Thénardier
Rob Houchen – Marius
Zoë Doano – Cosette
Bradley Jaden – Enjolras
With: Roger Allam, Colm Wilkinson, Frances Ruffelle and Rebecca Caine (Original London Cast) as well as previous Valjeans John Owen-Jones and Gerónimo Rauch. Also present were John Caird, Trevor Nunn and Cameron Macintosh.
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London (2015) River house Barn, Surrey (2016)
Summary
First published as a collection in 1943, Four Quartets brought together four of Eliot’s timeless and meditative poems: Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages and Little Gidding. Roger Allam gave an intimate reading of the entire work, around which internationally renowned pianist Angela Hewitt performed the spiritual music of Bach and Messiaen. Part of a series of performances from Angela Hewitt at the Wanamaker Playhouse. A repeat performance was staged the following year at the River house Barn. gallery (stage: 2011 – now) || our review || Angela Hewitt’s website || ‘Concerts by Candlelight’ trailer
The Winter’s Tales series involved a host of famous names reading works of classic literature. The storytelling was in each case paired with music, each performance including a different musician. Roger Allam’s ‘Winter Tales’ were three short stories from D.H Lawrence: The Christening, Second Best and Odour of Chrysanthemums. He was joined on stage by accordionist Martynas Levickis.
Four aspiring young writers have paid big bucks to seek wisdom at the feet of the fearsome editor Leonard, once a celebrated novelist, now a cantankerous editor, teacher and grandstanding chronicler of third-world war zones. Under Leonard’s recklessly brilliant but brutally unorthodox tuition, competition for his approval is intense and the students clash. Alliances are made and broken, tactical schemes are hatched – how far are they willing to go to make it to the top?
As part of the Trasimeno Music Festival, Roger Allam featured as a reciter along with Dame Felicity Lott in a performance of Walton’s Façade – a series of poems by Edith Sitwell accompanied by William Walton’s instrumental accompaniment.
Queen Elizabeth I played the virginals and wrote poetry as a relaxation from the trials of state business. The Queen’s Command transports us back in time and pays tribute to her through the music and poetry of the finest composers and poets of the golden age, as well as reviving reported conversations between the Queen and her contemporaries. Allam’s readings, often in character, brought these Elizabethan letters and poems to life with the audience leaning forward in their seats, hanging off his every word. The intimate setting of the Sam Wannamaker Playhouse proved an excellent choice, suiting the mood of the music and texts- often passionate and amusing- perfectly. It’s a shame this ran for just two nights.
One hundred actors celebrate the National Theatre’s 50th birthday by performing snippets from various plays. Amongst them is Roger Allam, performing a monologue from the play Copenhagen by Michael Frayn. In the play, the spirit of the German physicist Werner Heisenberg – Hitler’s nuclear scientist – meets the spirits of his Danish colleague Niels Bohr and his wife Margrethe. They discuss the idea of nuclear power and its control, the rationale behind building or not building an atomic bomb, the uncertainty of the past and the inevitability of the future, all in attempt to answer one question: “Why did he [Heisenberg] come to Copenhagen” in 1941? In this scene, Heisenberg tells about a journey to see his family near the end of World War II. As Heisenberg is already dead, the plot does not exist in time and space, allowing him to speak out loud as if to no one. He questions the responsibility and the morality in science, and only seems to realise the madness of the War once he’s labelled a deserter by a German soldier. His papers – signed by himself – do not grant him his freedom; instead in a stroke of genius he is able to buy it for a pack of cigarettes.
Prospero, Duke of Milan, usurped and exiled by his own brother, holds sway over an enchanted island. He is comforted by his daughter Miranda and served by his spirit Ariel and his deformed slave Caliban. When Prospero raises a storm to wreck this perfidious brother and his confederates on the island, his long contemplated revenge at last seems within reach. Imbued with a spirit of magic and the supernatural, The Tempest is Shakespeare’s late great masterpiece of forgiveness, generosity and enlightenment.
For years Vanya and his niece Sonya have worked tirelessly to keep the family’s dilapidated, remote estate from ruin. The return of Vanya’s brother-in-law Professor Serebryakov and his captivating second wife Yelena, and frequent visits from the charismatic Doctor Astrov, knock their lives off course as old loyalties and new loves conflict. When the Professor announces his plan to sell the estate, Vanya and Sonya are faced with an uncertain future and Vanya is provoked into a shocking act of violence. Funny and heartbreaking in turn as it moves seamlessly between humour and melancholy, Anton Chekov’s masterpiece lays bare his characters’ passions, hopes and desires with exceptional warmth and poignancy.
A drama for three actors, supported by lighting and orchestral excerpts from Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen. The central figure is that of Richard Wagner and the play dramatises the composer’s own letters, essays and conversations as well as wrtings about him by others.
In 2010, Les Misérables celebrated its monumental 25th anniversary with a theatrical first – three different productions of the same musical staged at the same time in one city – the star-studded concerts at The O2, the acclaimed new 25th Anniversary Production (which completed its sell-out UK Tour at London’s Barbican Theatre) and the original production, which continues its record breaking run at the Queen’s Theatre, London. The O2 concert hosted a company of over 500 artists and musicians, the casts of the original production at the Queen’s Theatre, the New 25th Anniversary Production at the Barbican, London and members of the original 1985 London cast.
Cast
Alfie Boe – Jean Valjean
Norm Lewis – Javert
Lea Salonga – Fantine
Samantha Barks – Éponine
Matt Lucas – Thénardier
Jenny Galloway – Madame Thénardier
Nick Jonas – Marius
Katie Hall – Cosette
Ramin Karimloo – Enjolras
Earl Carpenter – The Bishop
Robert Madge – Gavroche
Hadley Fraser – Grantaire
With: Roger Allam, Colm Wilkinson, Frances Ruffelle, Alun Armstrong, Susan Jane Tanner, Michael Ball and Rebecca Caine (Original London Cast) For full cast & crew, please visit IMDbReview Roger Allam gets relatively little screen time for his appearance in ‘One Day More’ as Javert from the original London cast. Rather unfortunate, as he certainly hasn’t lost his voice! Readily available video recordings of Roger Allam as Javert are limited to his performance at the Olivier Awards in 1985, so to watch him – and the rest of the original cast – retake their famous roles is a real treat. gallery: stage (2006 – 2010) || buy the DVD || Les Misérables: Original London Cast || Olivier Awards 1985 ‘One Day More’
Part I With his crown under threat from enemies both foreign and domestic, Henry IV prepares for war. As his father gets ready to defend his crown, Prince Hal is languishing in the taverns and brothels of London, revelling in the company of his friend, the notorious Sir John Falstaff. With the onset of war, Hal must confront his responsibilities to family and throne. Part II King Henry’s health is failing but he is uncertain Hal is a worthy heir. Meanwhile, Falstaff is sent to the countryside to recruit fresh troops, where he gleefully indulges in the business of lining his own pockets. As the King’s health continues to worsen, Hal must choose between duty and loyalty to an old friend in Shakespeare’s heartbreaking conclusion to this pair of plays.
Cast
Roger Allam – Sir John Falstaff
Jamie Parker – Prince Hal
Paul Rider – Bardolph / Scroop
Danny Lee Wynter – Ned Poins
Oliver Cotton – King Henry IV
Joseph Timms – John of Lancaster
Sam Crane – Hotspur / Pistol
William Gaunt – Worcester / Shallow
Barbara Marten – Mistress Quickly
Lorna Stuart – Lady Percy
Patrick Brennan – Lord Chief Justice / Blunt / Sheriff
Georges and his partner Albin run a St Tropez nightclub, ‘La Cage aux Folles’, where Albin stars as the dazzling Zaza alongside ‘Les Cagelles,’ a sparkling chorus consisting primarily of men in drag. Georges and Albin have lived an idyllic life together for many years. Together, they have raised Georges’s son, Jean-Michel (whose birth was the result of a casual liaison some twenty years before). In all the ways that matter, Albin is ‘Maman.’ This contented existence is about to be shattered, however: Jean-Michel has news. He’s engaged to Anne (the good part), whose father is head of the Tradition, Family and Morality Party, whose sworn aim is to close the local drag clubs (the very bad part). Anne’s parents want to meet their daughter’s future in-laws, including his real mother. Jean-Michel has described Georges as a retired diplomat, which could lead to trouble but he thinks he has a solution: Albin will absent himself for the visit – and all the furniture will be changed for something less spectacular. When he finds that he’s to be marginalised, Albin is deeply hurt. Has he not brought up Georges’ son, man and boy, and been a good mother? He quits the club in a thoroughly justified huff. Next morning, Georges finds Albin on the beach and suggests he attends the dinner dressed up as a macho ‘uncle Al’. Why not? What could possibly go wrong?
Set in the present-day France, God of Carnage (originally Le Dieu du carnage)is the story of two married couples who meet for the first time shortly after their respective sons have a nasty schoolyard tangle. Michel and Veronique, whose son’s teeth were knocked out with a stick, invite Alain and Anette, whose son did the knocking, to their home to settle matters (such as who will pay for new teeth). But any attempt at having a civilized discussion about whose child is responsible for the fight, and how the parents may have influenced such destructive behavior, quickly devolves into finger-pointing, name-calling, stomping around and throwing things. And that’s before they break out the rum!
Cast
Roger Allam- Michel Vallon
Veronique Vallon – Lia Williams
Richard E Grant – Alain Reille
Serena Evans – Anette Reille
Creative team
Writer: Yasmina Reza
Roger Allam said:
“I’d seen the play in the West End and really liked it. I like this kind of material. It’s very unusual to be in a play with four very equally weighted parts (…)” (source)
A man who has everything. Money, friends, a beautiful home. And then – pfft! It’s all vanished. Max Reinhardt, one the greatest impresarios of theatrical history, had a lifelong ambition– to dissolve the boundary between theatre and the world it portrays. Each year at the Salzburg Festival he directed the famous morality play, Everyman, about God sending Death to summon a representative of mankind for judgment. The victim he chooses is a man who, like Reinhardt, rejoices in his wealth and all the pleasures that money can buy. Then in 1938 Hitler declares his own day of reckoning and sends Death into Austria – whereupon Reinhardt, a Jew, is left as naked and vulnerable as Everyman himself. Michael Frayn’s Afterlife is the story of how Reinhardt achieves his great ambition; though in a way he can scarcely have foreseen.
Cast
Roger Allam – Max Reinhardt
Abigail Cruttenden – Helen Thimig
Selina Griffiths – Gusti Adler
Peter Forbes – Rudolf ‘Katie’ Kommer
Glyn Grain – Franz
David Burke – Prince Archbishop of Salzburg
David Schofield – Friedrich Müller
Creative team
Writer: Michael Frayn
Director: Michael Blakemore
Roger Allam said:
“There’s a sense in which he didn’t fully engage or even exist outside of theatre. Where he most fully lived was while he was rehearsing, or putting on a show, or thinking about putting on a show. It’s something I recognise, certainly. (…) There’s something about the odd, repetitious nature of it that I find hugely relaxing. All the problems of life are taken care of for that bit of time.” (source) gallery: stage (2006 – 2010) || reviews || watch a recording at the NT archive || audio interview
It’s the 1960s, and swinging bachelor architect Bernard couldn’t be happier: a flat in Paris a mere windsock away from Orly Airport, and three gorgeous stewardesses all engaged to him without knowing about each other. But Bernard’s perfect life gets bumpy when his friend Robert comes to stay and a new and speedier Boeing jet throws off all of his careful planning. Soon all three stewardesses are in town simultaneously, timid Robert is forgetting which lies to tell to whom, and catastrophe looms.
A vast block of Carrara marble known as ‘Il Gigante’ becomes of the centre of conflict between two great artists, as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo compete for the prestigious commission to carve a statue of David. Sir Antony Sher’s fascinating play, on the creation of one of the world’s great works of art, is a beguiling exploration of the link between creativity and sexual desire.
When Una was 12 she had a sexual relationship with 40-year old Ray. After 6 years in prison, he changed his name and moved, hoping to get on with his life and forget what is past. However, this is not a history that will be laid to rest so easily- years later, an adult Una finds his picture in a magazine and traces him to his workplace. Ray takes Una to the office break room, where the two engage in a long and difficult confrontation involving Una’s continuing struggles to understand and come to terms with the affair and her intensely conflicting emotions. These rocket back and forth between anger, curiosity, confusion, and even a persistent attachment to Ray, whom Una loved and believed loved her. The fearful, cornered Ray parries her demanding questions and descriptions of her feelings and experiences, all the while uncertain of her intentions.
Cast
Roger Allam – Ray
Jodhi May – Una
Creative team
Writer: David Harrower
Director: Peter Stein
Designer: Ferdinand Wögerbauer
Roger Allam said:
“[Peter Stein] worked very, very closely on the acting along with the physicality of the acting (…), and I’d never worked with such intensity on the physical aspect of a performance.” (source)
Awards and nominations
Blackbird won the 2006 Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland for Best New Play and the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. reviews || gallery: stage (2006 – 2010)
Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester / Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham
Summary
With its title referencing the Russian Communist party newspaper of the same name, Pravda is a satirical play exploring the role of journalism in society. This modern Jonsonian comedy of menace took the theatre world by storm. It is about our western free press, which, as the authors point out, is about as free as the literal ‘Soviet Pravda’ of the title. Dominating the play is Murdoch-esque media mogul archetype Lambert Le Roux, a charming but totally unscrupulous South African newspaper magnate bent, it seems, on dominating England’s press as he has elsewhere in the world. As we see Le Roux accomplish his aims, we see also how the press is not the organ of truth we like to think it is. The dissemination of the truth is no longer its primary goal under the ‘Lambert Le Rouxs’ of our World. What is important now is what sells.
The same as last year… but better. Widow Twankey is still a fashion icon, Aladdin is still love-struck (despite having regenerated into a different actor), and Dim is still… Dim, though now with a new ‘Frances Barber’ makeover. Most significantly, Abbanazar still doesn’t have his lamp, and he’s none too pleased about it.
Cast
Roger Allam – Abbanazar
Sir Ian McKellen – Widow Twankey
Neil McDermott – Aladdin
Frances Barber – Dim Sum
Matthew Wolfenden – Hanky
Andrew Spillett – Panky
Kate Gillespie – Princess
Paul Grunert – Emperor
Tee Jaye – Genie
Creative team
Writer: Bille Brown
Original score: Gareth Valentine
Director: Sean Mathias
Producer: David Liddiment
Designer: John Napier
In rehearsal…
“Considerable time is then spent on the cave scene, where Roger Allam’s Abbanazar is soon in full pantomime flight. Relishing the melodrama, he is by turns menacing, suave and monumentally furious. ‘Abbanazar’s anger management isn’t terribly good,’ he comments mildly afterwards ‘No, he didn’t take his tablets,’ Sean replies.” (source)
Review
“In fact the star of this pantomime for me was not so much Ian McKellen’s dame, who seems rather thin and less buxom than is traditional, but Roger Allam’s wonderful villain Abbanazar. I shall never forget the series of evil, echoing laughs so extreme which have him ultimately clutching at the stage pillars and descending into a fit of coughing. He is very, very funny. His full fruity over the top Abbanazar is totally gorgeous.” Curtain Up, 16th December 2005gallery: stage (2001 – 2005) || website || programme 2005
Widow Twankey is a glamorous landrette owner with an extensive wardrobe and even bigger dreams; Aladdin is a teenage boy with a crush on a princess and Dim Sum is… Dim. Everything is all very ordinary- much to Twankey’s dismay- until one day Aladdin’s ‘long lost uncle’ turns up out of the blue. The good widow is immediately smitten (the man has money, after all), but friend Dim is not so convinced, and neither, most importantly, are the boys and girls of the audience. To be fair on Twankey, though, there has been a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ action that she has not been privy to. As the boys and girls know, Abbanazar has learned of a magic lamp which could grant him three wishes (cue ‘maniacal laughter’ soundtrack as he imagines what dastardly plot he could concoct with a genie on side)- however, he can obtain this lamp with Aladdin’s help. And so, here he is, cosying up to poor old Twankey so that she might let him ‘borrow her son for a bit.’ Aladdin, however, might prove to be more of an obstacle than the dastardly Abbanazar had counted on- the boy does, after all, have a princess to woo, and a magic lamp would certainly work wonders for his chances…
Cast
Roger Allam – Abbanazar
Sir Ian McKellen – Widow Twankey
Joe McFadden – Aladdin
Maureen Lipman – Dim Sum
Owen Sharpe – Hanky
Joanna Page – Panky
Cat Simmons – Princess
Sam Kelly – Emperor
Ramon Tikaram – Genie
Creative team
Writer: Michael Frayn
Original score: Gareth Valentine
Director: Sean Mathias
Producer: David Liddiment
Designer: Peter J Davison
Roger Allam said
“I was constantly losing my voice because of the maniacal laugh. But then I found out that all Abbanazars lose their voice; they just do.” (source)
Reviews
“But, in places, he (Ian McKellen) is almost upstaged by Roger Allam, who exudes comic menace with every word he sarcastically spits at the audience.” BBC, 20th December 2004 “Every time Roger Allam appeared as scowling Abbanazar, contemptous of everything, including the script, my son hissed in my ear: ‘Isn’t he great?’ He was.” The Guardian, 26th December 2004gallery: stage (2001 – 2005) || website || programme 2004
Cottesloe Theatre / Wyndham’s Theatre: National Theatre, London
Summary
West Germany, 1969. Willy Brandt begins his brief but remarkable career as the first left-of-centre Chancellor for nearly forty years. Always present but rarely noticed is Günter Guillaume, Brandt’s devoted personal assistant – and no less devoted in his other role, spying on Brandt for the Stasi. “Three political parties, in and out of bed with each other like drunken intellectuals, fifteen warring cabinet ministers, and sixty million separate egos. All making deals with each other and breaking them. All looking round at every moment to see the expression on everyone else’s face. All trying to guess which way everyone else will jump. All out for themselves and all totally dependent on everyone else. Not one Germany. Sixty million separate Germanies. The tower of Babel!” Democracy takes us into a world of political intrigue, espionage and betrayal. Based on real life events during the final months in office of the charismatic Chancellor, this political tale unfolds as suspicions of Stasi infiltrating rise. Tensions mount as Brandt’s precarious coalition government is pushed to its limits.
Cast
Roger Allam – Willy Brandt
Conleth Hill – Günter Guillaume
David Ryall – Herbert Wehner
Glyn Grain – Helmut Schmidt
Michael Simkins – Arno
Creative team
Writer: Michael Frayn
Director: Michael Blakemore
Roger Allam said:
“I never ever, ever got bored with it. (…) Sometimes you can just put on a suit and you think, ‘Oh, yes, I’m Willy Brandt!’” ” (source)
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s private Summer arts festival, TheSydmonton Festival, is held at a deconsecrated 16th century chapel on the grounds of Sydmonton Court. The weekend of the 11th-13th July, the composer previewed his new musical The Woman in White. It tells the mysterious tale of damsels in distress, a wicked aristocrat, lunatic asylums, family fortunes, desolate mansions and a sinister Secret Society. The story is loosely based on a popular 19th-century novel by Wilkie Collins.
The presentation was a workshop of Act One and included a couple songs from Act Two. Indeed the musical was still working towards production and only opened in London’s West End a year later, although with a different cast.
Cast
Roger Allam – Count Fosco
Anna Hathaway – Laura Fairlie
Laura Michelle Kelly – Marian Halcombe
Kevin Colson – Sir Percival Glyde
Kevin McKidd – Walter Hartright
Jaime Farr – Anne Catherick
Creative team
Writer: Wilkie Collins (novel) and Charlotte Jones (book)
Two former lovers, parted for eleven years and now both married, agree to meet in a hotel room away from their homes. Their given reasons are plain: both are in town and want to share a meal. But each has hidden motives which will only emerge with time. The result is a night of honesty and deceit, passion, hope and regret. Michael Weller’s play addresses timeless questions – ‘Am I with the right person? Or are they still out there, living another life?’ – in a fresh and lively way. Uncompromising in its attitude to modern marriage and infidelity, What the Night is For digs deep into the emotional exchanges between individuals with much to lose but even more to gain.
Cast
Roger Allam – Adam Penzius
Gillian Anderson – Melinda Metz
Creative team
Writer: Michael Weller
Director: John Caird
Designer: Tim Hatley
Roger Allam said:
“It certainly deals with sexual attraction, but you won’t find us giving gymnastic impersonations of the sex act on stage! It’s about former lovers who, now in their 40s, had an affair some ten years earlier. (…) Being in this play is fascinating for me in a purely practical way, in that I haven’t been in a two-hander before, and it’s an interesting dynamic.” (source) reviews || gallery: stage (2001 – 2005) || video interview
The play is set around the activities and exploits of the fictional Song and Dance Unit South East Asia (SADUSEA), a mostly gay British military concert party stationed in Singapore and Malaysia in the late 1940s during the Malayan Emergency. When Private Steven Flowers turns-up to start his new posting with SADUSEA, he finds himself in the ‘middle-sex regiment’ – one which is populated by numerous gay soldier-actors. In charge of the entertainment is Acting Captain Terri Dennis who wears an array of flamboyant dresses and makeup both on stage and off. The unit is commanded by the vaguely sinister and downright dangerous Major Giles Flack who counsels his soldiers against blasphemy and luxury and seeks to lead his ill-prepared unit against local insurgents.
Cast
Roger Allam – Captain Terri Dennis
James McAvoy – Steven Flowers
Indira Varma – Sylvia
Giles Flack – Malcolm Sinclair
Justin Salinger – Len
Daniel Tuite – Eric
Creative team
Writer: Peter Nichols
With music by: Denis King
Director: Michael Grandage
Designer: Christopher Oram
Choreography: Scarlett Mackmin
Interesting note
In 2004, Allam listed Privates on Parade as one of his ‘career highlights’, especially when followed by the ‘very non-showy’ Democracy. For Allam, ‘it’s all about contrasts.’ (source)
Plucked from obscurity to be Hitler’s architect and Minister of War, Albert Speer became the second most powerful man in the Third Riech. Adapted from Gitta Sereny’s biography, Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth, this play tells the epic story of a man whose devotion to Hitler blinded him to genocide. The first half of this play is a reflection of Hitler as he was seen without the benefit of hindsight and, as such, Roger Allam does not play the evil caricature we are used to. In the second half, however, we are shown a brief ‘nightmare’ sequence of the truth. The performance in both halves is powerful and chilling.
Cast
Roger Allam – Adolf Hitler
Alex Jennings – Albert Speer
Creative team
Writer: David Edgar
Director: Trevor Nunn
Designer: Ian MacNeil
Roger Allam said:
“And then I noticed something about his eyes, that his eyebrows were lower than mine. So I blotted out the top of mine, left the middle, and drew them in lower, and that was really, really scary.” (source) reviews || gallery: stage (1996 – 2000)
Madame Ranevskaya is a spoiled, aging aristocrat who returns (reluctantly) from a trip to Paris to face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after a default on the mortgage. In denial, she continues living in the past, deluding herself and her family, while the cherry trees are being axed down by the re-possessor Lopakhin, her former serf who is now a wealthy merchant. The play portrays the rise of the middle class and the decline of the aristocracy that was prevalent at the end of the 20th century in Russia, and ultimately led to revolution.
Cast
Roger Allam – Yermolia Alexeievitch Lopakhin
Vanessa Redgrave – Madame Ranevskaya
Ben Miles – Peter Trofimov
William Gaunt – Boris Borisovich Simeonov-Pishchik
Charlotte Emmerson – Anya
Eve Best – Varya
Corin Redgrave – Leonid Andreieveitch Gayev
Richard Henders – Yepikhodov
Maxine Peake – Dunyasha
Michael Bryant – Firs
James Thornton – Yasha
Creative team
Writer: Anton Chekov
Translation by: David Lan
Director: Trevor Nunn
Roger Allam said:
“I’d never understood why they didn’t chop it down, the Cherry Orchard, and do his perfectly sensible plan of building summer residences there. It seemed to me utterly practical, I just never, ever understood it. (…)And suddenly it all fell into place with me.” (source) reviews || gallery: stage (1996 – 2000)
Seven years have passed since the Greeks first began their siege of Troy, and on the Trojan side of the walls the beautiful Cressida, aided and abetted by her hilariously intriguing uncle Pandarus, has embarked upon a passionate love affair with Prince Troilus. When Cressida is forced to join her treacherous father (a Trojan defector) in the Greek camp where also resides the cunningly philosophical commander Ulysses, can their love survive a difficult separation or will it join the other casualties of war? Shakespeare fills his ancient tale with savage comedy, great passion, vivid characters and all the heat and sweat of a long and painful campaign. He seems never more modern than in dealing with the subject of a tragic love pursued in the midst of a pointless war.
Cast
Roger Allam – Ulysses
Sophie Okonedo – Cressida
Peter de Jersey – Troilus
David Bamber – Pandarus
Dhobi Oparei – Hector
Raymond Coulthard – Achilles
Daniel Evans – Patroclus
Jasper Britton – Thersites
Creative team
Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Trevor Nunn
Designer: Rob Howell
Composer: Gary Yershon
Roger Allam said:
” …Ulysses, probably the most intelligent guy in the Greek camp. Yes, undoubtedly the most, the cleverest and frustrated and furious at being there for ten years, you know. Also probably thought he should be Agamemnon and Achilles.” (source) “Troilus and Cressida had many battle scenes, and for some reason the designer had decided that although the Greeks and Trojans had swords, shields and armour they didn’t have the technology for shoes, so we were all barefoot.” (source)
Awards and nominations
In 2000, Roger received the Clarence Derwent Award, Actors’ Equity Association, for Troilus and Cressida. reviews || gallery: stage (1996 – 2000)
The penniless Alfred Evelyn is the unpaid and little respected secretary to his social climbing cousin Sir John Vesey, a social climber who has duped London into thinking him rich and therefore important. When Evelyn inherits a fortune from a distant relative, Vesey promptly seeks to become his father-in-law. But Vesey is not the only one to jump on Evelyn’s bandwagon. Tradesmen and politicians seek him out. Evelyn is meanwhile heartbroken after having been turned down by Clara, the companion to Vesey’s likeable sister, Lady Franklin. Clara’s rejection of him was not for lack of love but because she feared a marriage without money will be a drag on his life as it was for her father (and, having turned him down when he was poor she felt she could hardly accept him when he was rich for fear he get the wrong impression). With his hopes for a life with Clara seemingly dashed, Evelyn is almost persuaded to marry the scatter-brained Georgina. Georgina, while as greedy as her father, much prefers the foppish (but not as wealthy), lisping Sir “Fwedwick” Blount. A third romance demanding a happy ending involves Georgina’s aunt, the merry and inclined to marry Lady Franklin and the chronically bereaved widower Sir Henry Graves. All the while, Sir John is still scheming- but it would appear he’s not the only one with a few tricks up his sleeve…
In Nick Dear’s version of Gorky’s naturalistic masterpiece a diverse group of Russians meet, as they do every year, at their summer holiday retreat. Some are frightened at the prospect of change, some are angry and some yearn for a new life. As they question the value of their work, their art and leisure, they’re shocked by the responses their disputes reveal. Relationships break under the strain and scandals of business and infidelity are laid bare. This tale of Russian upheaval is based in part on the life of playwright Anton Chekov who died in 1904, the same year the play is set.
This comedy, which raises questions about art and friendship, concerns three long-time friends, Serge, Marc, and Yvan. Serge, indulging his penchant for modern art, buys a large, expensive, completely white painting. Marc is horrified, and their relationship suffers considerable strain as a result of their differing opinions about what constitutes “art.” Yvan, caught in the middle of the conflict, tries to please and mollify both of them.
Cast
Roger Allam – Serge (1997) / Marc (1998)
Henry Goodman – Marc (1997)
Stanley Townsend – Yvan (1997)
Mick Ford – Serge (1998)
Jack Dee – Yvan (1998)
Creative team
Writer: Yasmina Reza
Director: Matthew Warchus The story of Art, The Independent(1998) Only one person so far – other than the understudies – has played two roles. And was good both times. Roger Allam played Serge, who buys the painting, and is now appearing as Marc, who detests it. In the dressing room after the show, he pours out glasses of red wine. “This is the only West End job I’ve done that I’ve not been screaming to get out of the theatre by the end.” The run is short and the money good: “especially if you’ve worked a lot for the RSC.” Allam thinks it’s about the male crisis, which is “fashionable”, it’s about people passing 40, and it’s very French, like Moliere. The joy in the acting, he says, quoting an aunt who came to see it, is that there’s “so much going on”. So what does he think of the painting? “I’d have it on my wall,” he says, adding a neat rider, “Lit like that.” interview
RSC Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon / Barbican Theatre, London
Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
Summary
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s four great tragedies, encompassing witchcraft, bloody murder, ghostly apparitions as well as high poetry, blended in such a way as to demonstrate the assured dramatic touch of Shakespeare’s maturity. Macbeth and Banquo, generals in the service of King Duncan of Scotland, are returning victorious from battle when they are hailed by three witches or ‘weyard sisters’ who prophesy that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and then King of Scotland, whereas Banquo’s descendants will be kings. With fierce encouragement from his wife, Macbeth takes bloody and drastic action to ensure that his portion of the witches’ prophecy comes true (and that his friend’s does not). Macbeth’s tragedy is that of a good, brave and honourable man turned into the personification of evil by the workings of unreasonable ambition.
Cast
Roger Allam – Macbeth
Brid Brennan – Lady Macbeth
Philip Quast – Banquo
Arthur Cox – Duncan
Colum Convey – Macduff
Jan Chappell – Lady Lady Macduff
Creative team
Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Tim Albery
Designer: Stewart Laing
Reviews
When he comes back from murdering Duncan, you’d think from his manner that he’d just been unblocking the sink – if it weren’t for the gory knife in his clasp. Allam speaks the verse intelligently and improves in the later scenes when projecting a man drained of feeling and dryly contemptuous of existence. But of the preceding psychological turmoil, he gives a colourless account. The Independent, 18 May 1996 … Roger Allam’s finely spoken Macbeth is clearly haunted, in this respect, by the contrast between himself and Banquo. He murderously fondles Fleance, is wickedly mocked in the apparition scene by a succession of child Banquos, all – a brilliant touch – adorned with their father’s moustache, and even turns up for the slaughter of Macduff’s son as if to destroy what he cannot have. The Guardian, 18 May 1996gallery: stage (1996 – 2000)
Les Femmes savantes (The Learned Ladies) is a comedy by Molière in five acts, written in verse. A satire on academic pretention, female education, and préciosité (French for preciousness), it was one of his most popular comedies. Two young people, Henriette and Clitandre, are in love, but in order to marry, they must overcome a significant obstacle: the attitude of Henriette’s family. Her sensible father and uncle are in favour of the match; unfortunately, however, her father is under the thumb of his wife, Philaminte, who, supported by Henriette’s aunt and sister, wishes for her to marry someone else. The proposed husband-to-be is Trissotin, a foppish ‘scholar’ and mediocre poet with lofty aspirations, who has these three women completely in his thrall. For these three ladies are “learned”; their obsession in life is learning and culture of the most pretentious kind, and Trissotin is their special protégé and the fixture of their literary salon.
The Way of the World is a comedy of manners in five acts by William Congreve, first performed and published in 1700. The play, which is considered Congreve’s masterpiece, ridicules the assumptions that governed the society of his time, especially those concerning love and marriage. The play is based around two lovers, Mirabell and Millamant. In order for the two to get married and receive Millamant’s full dowry, the cynical yet gracious Mirabell must receive the blessing of Millamant’s aunt, Lady Wishfort. Unfortunately, she is a very bitter lady, who despises Mirabell and wants her own nephew, country bumpkin Sir Wilful, to wed Millamant.
Cast
Roger Allam – Mirabell
Frank Kovacs – Servant to Mirabell
Julian Rhind Tutt – Anthoy Witwoud
Anthony O Donnell – Sir Wilful Witwoud
Geraldine McEwan – Lady Wishfort
Francis Maguire – Servant to Lady Wishfort
Mistress Marwood – Sian Thomas
Mistress Millamant – Fiona Shaw
Amanda Drew – Mincing
Catherine Tate – Peg
Cyril Nri – Petulant
Foible – Marianne Jean Baptiste
Waitwell – Kenneth Macdonald
Veronica Quilligan – Mrs Fainall
Creative team
Writer: William Congreve
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Designer: Anthony Ward
Roger Allam said:
“That play is a bag of eels. You think you’ve got hold of an idea, and it slips out of your grasp.” (source) gallery: stage (1990 – 1995)
In 1890s England two young men learn the vital importance of being ‘Earnest’ as their use of the same pseudonym in their romantic pursuits leads to a comedy of mistaken identity. Algernon Moncrieff has discovered that he has a secret in common with his friend Jack Worthing – they both use alter egos when in a tight spot. However, when Algernon decides to pose as Jack’s alter ego – a brother Earnest from London – for a weekend in the country, he finds that Jack’s ward Cicely has developed an infatuation with the mysterious brother; and now she has finally met him. Meanwhile, Algernon’s cousin Gwendolyne is also staying for the weekend and knows Jack as his alter ego. Gwendolyne’s mother, the stern Lady Bracknell, has to be convinced to give her blessing to the blossoming romances.
Cast
Roger Allam – Jack Worthing
Philip Franks – Algernon Moncrieff
Patrick Godfrey – Rev Canon Chasuble
Martin Wimbush – Merriman / Lane
Barbara Leigh Hunt – Lady Bracknell
Abigail Cruttenden – Gwendolen Fairfax
Jacqueline Defferary – Cecily Cardew
Rosalind Knight – Miss Prism
Creative team
Writer: Oscar Wilde
Director: Terry Hands
Designer: Mark Bailey
Ouch!
“One night, in the middle of Importance, he ruptured a calf muscle, but, says Barbara Leigh-Hunt, ‘altered his movements slightly, so that very few people in the audience knew anything was wrong’, and then continued, since he had no understudy, to play every performance.” (Rhonda Koenig, The Sunday Telegraph Magazine- October 1995)
Review
“Allam’s intensely masculine presence balances the dainty foolishness of the rest of the piece, just as his attempts to cling to any fleeting shred of reality are a hilarious counterpoint to the other characters’ pursuit of fancy.” (source) gallery: stage (1990 – 1995)
This play moves back and forth between 1809 and the present at the elegant estate owned by the Coverly family. The 1809 scenes reveal a household in transition. As the Arcadian landscape is being transformed into picturesque Gothic gardens, complete with a hermitage, thirteen year old Lady Thomasina and her tutor delve into intellectual and romantic issues. Present day scenes depict the Coverly descendants and two competing scholars (one of whom is Bernard Nightingale) who are researching a possible scandal at the estate in 1809 involving Lord Byron.
Cast
Roger Allam – Bernard Nightingale
Creative team
Writer: Tom Stoppard
Awards and nominations
Arcadia won the Evening Standard Best Play of the Year Award and the Olivier Award for Best New Play gallery: stage (1990 – 1995)
The setting of this musical is Hollywood in the late 1940s, with two stories occurring simultaneously: the “real” world story of a writer trying to turn his book into a screenplay, and the “reel” world of the fictional detective film he is creating. While trying to maintain his artistic integrity and his marriage, a young novelist, Stine, is attempting to write a screen play for fast-talking Hollywood producer, Buddy Fidler. As he creates the story about a private detective, Stone, the characters of Stine’s imagination come to life on stage. Beautiful socialite Alaura Kingsley hires Stone to find her missing step-daughter. Stone receives a brutal beating from two thugs who are hired to get him off the Kingsley case, and he is additionally framed for a murder. As the plot thickens, Stone’s own past comes to haunt him and he in turn haunts his ‘author’ (as well he might).
The year is 1979: it’s the eve of the Pope’s visit to Ireland, and everybody in Dublin has somebody sleeping on their floor. Aidan and Nuala have the whole Kevitt family up from the country – Aidan’s pious tyrant of a mother, his malcontented brother Liam, and his reserved sister Una. And then there’s his father’s cousin, Fr Simeon, a self-effacing, bland monk. Everyone is primed with goodwill in expectation of the Holy Father’s arrival. Predictably, however, as the evening wears on, masks slip, tensions erupt and it might take more than even a ‘pooka’ (a Celtic fairy) to resolve matters.
Cast
Roger Allam – Father Simeon
Julia Dearden – Una
Creative team
Writer: Michael Hardin
Director: Nicolas Kent
Roger Allam said:
“I went out to Ireland to meet the writer, who’d trained as a priest. [Michael Harding] basically made me very, very drunk for about five days and took me (…) to bars and discos and people’s houses. He said: ‘I went to the seminary there, because it was a very good place for girls.’ And I said, ‘Oh!’ And he said, ‘I’m still a celibate, I’ve always been celibate. You see celibacy means not getting married, that’s the vow the priests take. I’ve never been married in my life, but I never took a vow of chastity.’ (source)
Review
“Apart from a baffling denouement, everything about Una Pooka is superb. It’s a virtuoso piece, thoroughly unnerving and funny, its intricate time-scheme handled with exhilarating facility by the director, Nicolas Kent, and his excellent cast. In particular, Julia Dearden’s sympathetic, steely Una and Roger Allam’s magnetic Simeon are outstanding.” The Independent, 10 July 1992
Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London / Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Summary
Philip Madras, the unsentimental scion of a drapery and dressmaking business, plans to sell his company and has found an American buyer. That man, Mr State, is a big-talking capitalist who quotes Goethe and sees the new women’s movement as a great market opportunity.
Cast
Roger Allam – Philip Madras
John Hallam – Constantine Madras
Helen Ryan – Amelia Madras
Eve Matheson – Philip’s wife, Sessica
Suzanna Hamilton – Miss Yates
Bill Bailey – American businessman
Creative team
Writer: Harley Granville-Barker
Director: Peter James
Designer: Pamela Howard
Reviews
“Roger Allam brings out well the sexless, kindly priggishness of Philip, another of Barker’s ‘worms,’ though his performance comes unstuck a bit in the awkward last act discussion with his wife, which Barker extensively revised for a 1925 revival. This production opts for the 1910 text.” The Independent, 27 August 1992 “The cast are all in fine fettle, particularly Roger Allam as Philip Madras.” Contemporary Review, 1 November 1992
The famous tale of Dr Jekyll, the outwardly respectable and virtuous man whose darker side is given terrifying life in the form of murderous Mr Hyde, has been vividly and thrillingly adapted for the stage. Jekyll and Hyde are played by two actors; as a result, the divisions in Jekyll’s character are presented in a compelling and truly theatrical style. The tussle between the two is an absorbing and eventually physical one as the split central roles struggle for possession of their shared body.
Cast
Roger Allam – Dr Henry Jekyll
Simon Russell Beale – Mr Hyde
Oliver Ford-Davies – Gabriel Utterson
Richard Enfield – Michael Bott
Katrina Levon – Annie Loder
Pippa Guard – Katherine Urquhart
Leonard Kavanagh – Sir Danvers Carew
Alec Linstead – Dr Hastie Lanyon
Creative team
Novel by: Robert Louis Stevenson
Adaptation by: David Edgar
Director: Peter Wood
Designer: Carl Toms
Review
“Roger Allam’s Jekyll is a paradigm of period repression, against which Simon Russell Beale’s Hyde lurks sinisterly but not disturbingly. Their daring co-presence during most transformations is dissipated in dialogues of mutual psychoanalysis, becoming in the final phase a staged novel-of-ideas.” City Limits, 1991gallery: stage (1990 – 1995)
RSC Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon / Barbican Theatre, London
Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
Summary
Claudio loves Hero and Hero Claudio and nothing seems capable of keeping them apart. Claudio’s friend Benedick loves Beatrice and Beatrice Benedick, but (because neither will admit it) nothing seems capable of bringing them together. Only the intrigues of a resentful prince force Benedick to prove his love for Beatrice – by killing his best friend. Driven along by a romance all the more charming for being in denial, Much Ado About Nothing is a miracle of comic and dramatic suspense and gives us, in the bantering Beatrice and Benedick, one of Shakespeare’s wittiest, most lovable pair of lovers.
Written in 1895, this is the first of what are considered to be Anton Chekov’s four major plays. Despite its premier performance in 1896 being a famous flop, the play remains a firm theatrical favourite, characteristic of the playwright’s subtle style. Set against the backdrop of a country estate, The Seagull dramatises the romantic and artistic conflicts between its four central characters. Roger Allam plays Trigorin, a famous writer who arrives at the estate for a holiday with his lover.
Cast
Roger Allam – Trigorin
Simon Russell Beale – Treplev
Susan Fleetwood – Arkadina
Amanda Root – Nina
Alfred Burke – Sorin
John Carlisle – Dorn
Kay Behean – Masha
Trevor Martin – Shamrayev
Graham Turner – Medvedenko
Cherry Morris – Polina
Creative team
Writer: Anton Chekov
Translation by: Michael Frayn
Director: Terry Hands
Designer: Johan Engels
Review
This production was very well-received and is frequently used as a standard by which other performances of the play are measured. As one critic stated, ‘some productions of classics become classics themselves, setting a standard as long as their audiences’ memories.’ (source) gallery: stage (1990 – 1995)
Written shortly before his death, Henry Purcell’s ‘masque’ (semi-opera) is based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hermia loves Lysander and Helena loves Demetrius – but Demetrius is supposed to be marrying Hermia… When the Duke of Athens tries to enforce the marriage, the lovers take refuge in the woods and wander into the midst of a dispute between Oberon and Titania, the king and queen of the fairies. Shakespeare put some of his most dazzling dramatic poetry at the service of this teasing, glittering, hilarious and amazingly inventive play, whose seriousness is only fleetingly glimpsed beneath its dreamlike surface.
Cast
Roger Allam – Oberon
Christopher Ryan – Puck
Gemma Jones – Titania
Sean Murray – Lysander
John Elmes – Demetrius
Sylvestra Le Touzel – Hermia
Niamh Cusack – Helena
David Killick – Egeus
Paul Greenwood – Theseus
Geoffrey Freshwater – Nick Bottom
Allan Corduner – Peter Quince
Philip Fox – Francis Flute
Albie Woodington – Robin Starveling
Arthur Cox – Tom Snout
Brian Parr – Snug
Creative team
Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Yvon Gerault
Interesting note
Roger Allam’s performance was recorded live in July 1989 at the French Festival d’Aux-en-Provence buy the DVD (poor quality)
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon / Barbican Theatre, London
Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
Summary
Believing her twin brother Sebastian to have drowned after a shipwreck which she has survived, the young Viola is stranded on the mysterious island of Illyria. Disguising herself as the page Cesario, she enters the service of the handsome Duke Orsino, who is madly in love with the beautiful Countess Olivia. But when, while delivering a letter, the Countess falls helplessly in love with the disguised messenger herself, Viola realises her problems have only just begun. Meanwhile, the annual night of fun and feasting is being enjoyed to the full by Olivia’s roguish cousin Sir Toby Belch. Together with the gentlewoman Maria and his guest – Olivia’s hapless suitor Sir Andrew Aguecheek – the prankster Belch schemes to embarrass the pompous steward Malvolio …
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon / Barbican Theatre, London
Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
Summary
Vincentio, Duke of Vienna, departs from his kingdom suddenly and inexplicably, resigning power to his deputy Angelo in his absence. Under Angelo’s rule, a vigorous campaign against lechery and sexual license begins. It seems that love is no defence under the newly-fortified laws and one of the first to suffer is Claudio, arrested and sentenced to death for making his lover, Juliet, pregnant before making her his wife. In desparation, Claudio sends for his sister Isabella, hoping that her virtuous pleading can move the rigid Angelo to repeal his sentence. but when Angelo demands a higher price than Isabella is prepared to pay, it becomes evident that not only love but justice is at risk. The Duke returns disguised as Friar Ludovcio, but will he intervene to spare his people from the not-so-upright Angelo, and how can he respond when young lovers are imprisoned alongside brothel keepers and bawds?
Cast
Roger Allam – Duke Vincentio
Josette Simon – Isabella
Hakeem Kae-Kazim – Claudio
Sean Baker – Lord Angelo
Mark Dignam – Escalus
Alex Jennings – Lucio
Janet Amsbury – Mariana
Linda Spurrier – Mistress Overdone
Phil Daniels – Pompey
David Howey – Provost
George Raistrick – Elbow
Gordon Case – Barnadine
Kate Littlewood – Juliet
Derek Hutchinson – Abhorson
Bill McGuirk – Justice
David Pullan – Froth
Carlton Chance – Gentleman
Steven Elliot – Angelo’s Servant
Creative team
Writer: William Shakespeare
Music by: Jeremy Sams
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Designer: Mark Thompson
Roger Allam said:
“Measure for Measure leaves me with the sense that life is all there is, so we might as well live it as best we can; that being human is not a given something we have to strive for. That the reason we are here is to live and that this involves making many difficult judgements.” (source)
Interesting note
Roger Allam reprised his role for the Arkangel dramatisation of Measure for Measure which can be purchased here. He also played Angelo in a 1978 performance of the play at Contact Theatre, Manchester. gallery: stage (1985 – 1989)
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon / Barbican Theatre, London
Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
Summary
When Caesar returns to Rome from the wars a virtual dictator, Brutus and his republican friends resolve that his ambition must be curbed – which in Rome can mean only one thing: the great general must be assassinated. But once the deed is done, the idealistic conspirators must reckon with the forces of a new power bloc, led by Mark Antony and Caesar’s nephew Octavius. When their armies close at Philippi, will Caesar’s ghost be avenged? Opposing dictatorship and republicanism, private virtue and mob violence, Shakespeare’s tense drama of high politics reveals the emotional currents that flow between men in power.
Cast
Roger Allam – Brutus
David Waller – Julius Caesar
Nicholas Farrell – Antony
Sean Baker – Cassius
Gregory Doran – Octavius
Geoffrey Freshwater – Casca
Susan Colverd – Calpurnia
Janet Amsbury – Portia
Ian Barritt – Flavius
Dennis Clinton – Lepidus
Mike Dowling – Murellus
William Chubb – Decius / Titinius
Gordon Case – Cinna / Lucilius
Carlton Chance – Claudius / Clitus / Octavius’ servant
Ian Barritt – Ligarius / Volumnius
Mike Dowling – Messala / Servant / Soldier
Steven Elliot – Pindarus / Trebonius
Derek Hutchinson – Strato
Hakeem Kae-Kazim – Cinna the Poet
Creative team
Writer: William Shakespeare
Music by: Guy Woolfenden
Director: Terry Hands
Designer: Farrah
Reviews
In October 1995 The Sunday Telegraph Magazine remarked that Allam’s was the ‘definitive Brutus,’ an opinion that is shared widely. In One Night Stands: A Critic’s View of Modern British Theatre, Michael Billington states that ‘Mr Allam is first rate’ and gives a rave review of his performance: ‘Mr Allam has a voice, dignity and that vital Shakespearean ability to weigh a phrase so as to give us an insight into character. When he says, after the assassination, he will go into the pulpit and ‘show the reason of our Caesar’s death’, his emphasis on the noun exposes the flawed liberal assumption that you can persuade people into acceptance. I was also moved, for the first time, by Brutus’s acknowledgement of Portia’s death: as Mr Allam revealed she ‘swallowed fire’, he burned the letter bearing the news and poignantly watched it fade to ashes’. (One Night Stands: A Critic’s View of Modern British Theatre pg. 277-278) These two players [Sean Baker and Roger Allam] carry the evening. They make improbable comrades. “Noble” is not the first word that comes to mind for Mr Allam’s admirably spoken Brutus but this is a man of honour who hates having to act dishonourably. ‘Not the noblest Roman of them all,’ Eric Shorter (PDF) gallery: stage (1985 – 1989)
In this juxtaposition of two worlds, Leah, a music instructor, and Violet, a teacher, go to the East to find a new self. This self is contrasted with Pimm’s constructed, western self.
Cast
Roger Allam – Pimm
Susan Colverd – Leah
Clive Russell – Clive
Miriam Karlin – Betty
Paola Dionisotti – Violet
Ann Mitchell – Mary
Caroline Goodall – Cholla
Stella Gonet – Bridie
Nimmy Marsh – Lindiwie
Tina Marian – Marissa
Susan Tracy – Mayonnaise
Penelope Freeman – Roman
Creative team
Writer: Deborah Levy
Music by: Ilona Sekacz
Director: Susan Todd
Designer: Iona McLeish
Interesting note
The play was directed by Lily Susan Todd who had worked with Allam in the feminist ‘Monstrous Regiment’ theatre company. set pictures || gallery: stage (1985 – 1989)
Set in an ornate (and possibly bugged) room in a former Archbishop’s palace, Arthur Miller’s play explores the complex relationship between four main characters who are bound by politics, art, sex and the constant threat posed by the secret police in the play’s Eastern European backdrop.
Cast
Roger Allam – Adrian
Jane Lapotaire – Maya
John Shrapnel – Sigmund
David De Keyser – Marcus
Stella Gonet – Irina
Creative team
Writer: Arthur Miller
Director: Nick Hamm
Designer: Fotini Dimou
Interesting note:
Arthur Miller frequently expressed a degree of astonishment at what he deemed to be a brave decision on Allam’s part- that of leaving the successful production of Les Misérables in order to take on a relatively low-key role. Allam himself underplays his decision, stating that he chose to make the change because he ‘thought it would be interesting’. “To play Adrian….in the 1986 Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Archbishop’s Ceiling, Roger Allam gave up the leading role as Javert in the monster hit Les Misérables because he had done it over sixty times and thought my play more challenging for him at that moment of his career. Nor did he consider his decision a particularly courageous one. This is part of what a theatre culture means and it is something few New York actors would have the sense of security even to dream of doing.” Timebends by Arthur Miller, 1987. gallery: stage (1985 – 1989)
Based on Victor Hugo’s epic novel of contrition and the power of forgiveness, Jean Valjean’s bitterness at having been sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread is salved by the great mercy and charity shown to him by a bishop who ‘buys his soul for God.’ Unfortunately, Inspector Javert (‘do not forget my name’) is considerably less able to forgive and forget, pursuing Valjean even beyond the barricades of an attempted student uprising on the streets of 19th century Paris.
Cast
Roger Allam – Inspector Javert
Colm Wilkinson – Jean Valjean
Fantine – Patti LuPone
Rebecca Caine – Cosette
Alun Armstrong – Thénardier
Susan Jane Tanner – Madame Thénardier
Michael Ball – Marius
David Burt – Enjolras
Eponine – Frances Ruffelle
Grantaire – Clive Carter
Ian Tucker / Oliver Spencer / Liza Hayden – Gavroche
The primary character in this play is Agnes, the daughter of the Vedic god Indra. Descending to earth to bear witness to the problems faced by human beings, she meets about 40 characters, some of whom have a clear symbolic value (the four deans, for example, represent theology, philosophy, medicine and law). After experiencing many varieties of human suffering, including poverty and cruelty, the daughter of the gods realises that human beings are to be pitied. Eventually she returns to the heavens, an event which corresponds to the awakening from a dream-like sequence of events.
Cast
Roger Allam – The Officer
Penny Downie – The God’s Daughter
George Raistrick – The Lawyer
Jan Revere – Edith
Miles Hoyle – Chancellor / The Glazier / The God / The Opera Singer / The Quarantine Maste
Cecile Paoli – Chorus / Dean of Medicine / The Blind Woman / The Wife
Simon Templeman – The Poet / Policeman
Liz Moscrop – Coquette / Dean of Philosophy / Schoolgirl / The Mother / The Stagedoor Keeper
John Rogan – Officer’s Father / Dean of Theology / The Husband / The Prompter
In spite of the hatred of their long-feuding families, Romeo and Juliet meet at a masked ball and fall instantly in love. At first, things go relatively smoothly for the young couple- they manage to meet and even to marry in secret- but Juliet’s cousin recognised Romeo at the ball. Incensed, the Capulet cousin, Tybalt, challenges Romeo to a duel, not knowing that they are now related by marriage. Romeo refuses to fight, but his friend Mercutio is confused and irritated by his friend’s submission. Though a member of neither of the warring families, Mercutio decides to duel Tybalt instead and he is eventually stabbed under Romeo’s arm when his friend tried to intervene. Enraged by the death of his friend, Romeo slays Tybalt in turn and is exiled for his offence. Juliet concocts a plain to join him, but, when a message is fatally left undelivered, tragedy strikes, uniting both families in woe.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is perhaps the best loved of Shakepeare’s plays. It brings together aristocrats, workers, and fairies in a wood outside Athens, and from there the enchantment begins. Lysander loves Hermia, and Hermia loves Lysander. Helena loves Demetrius; Demetrius used to love Helena but now loves Hermia. Egeus, Hermia’s father, prefers Demetrius as a suitor, and enlists the aid of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to enforce his wishes upon his daughter. According to Athenian law, Hermia is given four days to choose between Demetrius, life in a nunnery, or a death sentence. Hermia, ever defiant, chooses to escape with Lysander into the surrounding forest. Complications arise in the forest. Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of Fairies, are locked in a dispute over a boy whom Titania has adopted. Oberon instructs his servant Puck to bring him magic love drops, which Oberon will sprinkle on the Queen’s eyelids as she sleeps, whereupon Titania will fall in love with the first creature she sees upon awakening. Meanwhile, Helena and Demetrius have also fled into the woods after Lysander and Hermia. Oberon, overhearing Demetrius’s denouncement of Helena, takes pity upon her and tells Puck to place the magic drops upon the eyelids of Demetrius as well, so that Demetrius may fall in love with Helena. Puck, however, makes the mistake of putting the drops on the eyelids of Lysander instead. Helena stumbles over Lysander in the forest, and the spell is cast; Lysander now desires Helena and renounces a stunned Hermia. In the midst of this chaos, a group of craftsmen are rehearsing for a production of “Pyramus and Thisbe,” to be played for the Duke at his wedding. Puck impishly casts a spell on Bottom to give him the head of a donkey. Bottom, as luck would have it, is the first thing Titania sees when she awakens…
Richard, the deformed Duke of Gloucester, lies, murders and cheats his way to the throne of England as he systematically slaughters his enemies, allies and family (including his own brother, The Duke of Clarence, and his boy nephews). As the Wars of the Roses rage on around him, his mind and his power start to disintegrate, until his final deadly encounter with the Duke of Richmond at the Battle of Bosworth.
Other Place Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon / The Pit, London
Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
Summary
Encompassing events from the Great Depression of the 1930s as well as those from the Spanish Civil war, Robert Holman’s play was written for a specific group of RSC actors with whom he had lived for a period in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Gulbenkian Studio, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, The Pit and The Other Place
Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
Summary
Set in 1968 during the Paris student riots, the story is on one level a political discussion about the finer points of Western radicalism. It all takes place in the salubrious London flat of woolly liberal BBC-TV producer Joe Shawcross, who is host to a gathering of a group of ardent leftists, including a journalist, a university student, a politics professor, and a playwright. They’ve come together ‘to do something’ to support their Parisian brothers and sisters, and they spend the rest of the evening trying to settle on ‘a theory to underpin action.’
“In the second act of Bernard Pomerance’s ‘Melons,’ there is a confrontation between a once fierce Apache chief now posing as a peaceful Pueblo farmer and a young Indian doctor who has a pragmatic attitude about the achievement of equal rights for their people. It is 1906, wars are over but old wounds remain raw. The meeting of the two Indians – in a melon field in the New Mexico countryside – is both sharp and succinct, and strikes at the heart of the conflict in Mr. Pomerance’s otherwise discursive play.” (source)
The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon / The Pit, London
Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
Summary
The play follows the stories of four young friends from Newcastle through the 1960s and 1970s. Nicky is a left-wing political idealist who goes into local politics to change things for the better but discovers it runs by corruption and back-handers. Tosker and Mary marry and have a child and, thanks to Nicky, get a brand new council flat, but the building of the flats was given to builder John Edwards after some bribes to members of the housing committee and they soon start to fall apart. Geordie goes to London, works for a small-time gangster who runs porn shops and strip clubs, goes to prison after the police they had been bribing turn on them when they are being investigated for corruption and then fights against the black militants in Rhodesia as a mercenary.
Cast
Roger Allam – John Browne, Kruger and Ronald Conrad (The Other Place) / Ronald Conrad and John Bourne (The Pit)
Poppy is a ‘celebration’ of Victorian values and exposes the hypocrisy, racism, drug dealing, money worship and sexual repression of the time through the favourite entertainment form of the period: pantomime. Dick Whittington, his man Jack, Sally the Principal Girl, the Dame, two pantomime horses, a flying ballet, a transformation scene and even the traditional song-sheet are all brought on to tell the serious and finally devastating story of the single most profitable crop of the British East India Company.
Cast
Roger Allam – Lin Tse-Tsii
Tony Church – Tao-Kuan
Jane Carr – Queen Victoria
Stephen Moore – Jack Idle
Christopher Hurst and Andrew Thomas James – Jack’s horse, Randy
Other Place Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon / The Pit, London
Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
Summary
The Twin Rivals is a play by George Farquhar first produced at Drury Lane Theatre. Hermes Wouldbe, the elder brother, is going to be swindled out of the family estate and the hand of his fiancée, Constance, by the younger, Benjamin, with the help of the lawyer, Subtleman, who offers to bring a cargo-load of perjuring witnesses from Ireland.
Cast
Roger Allam- Subtleman (The Other Place) / Richmore (The Pit)
Valentine and Proteus are best friends until they fall in love with the same girl. Having travelled to Milan in search of adventure, they both fall for the Duke’s daughter Silvia. But Proteus is already sworn to his sweetheart Julia at home in Verona, and the Duke thinks Valentine is not good enough for his Silvia. With friendship forgotten, the rivals’ affections quickly get out of hand as the four young lovers find themselves on a wild chase through the woods, confused by mistaken identity and threatened by fierce outlaws before they find a path to reconciliation.
Returning to Rome from a war against the Goths, the general Titus Andronicus brings with him the queen Tamora and her three sons (Alarbus, Demetrius and Chiron) as prisoners of war. Titus’ sacrifice of Tamora’s eldest son to appease the ghosts of his dead sons, and his decision to refuse to accept the title of emperor, initiates a terrible cycle of mutilation, rape and murder. And all the while, at the centre of the nightmare, there moves the villainous, self-delighting Aaron. Grotesquely violent and daringly experimental, Titus was the smash hit of Shakespeare’s early career, and is written with a ghoulish energy he was never to repeat elsewhere. By S. Clarke Hulse’s count, the play has “14 killings, 9 of them on stage, 6 severed members, 1 rape (or 2 or 3, depending on how you count), 1 live burial, 1 case of insanity and 1 of cannibalism–an average of 5.2 atrocities per act, or one for every 97 lines.”
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon / Barbican Theatre, London
Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
Summary
Helena loves the arrogant Bertram, and when she cures the King of France of his sickness, she claims Bertram as her reward. But her brand-new husband, flying from Helena to join the wars, attaches two obstructive conditions to their marriage – conditions he is sure will never be met. All’s Well That Ends Well grinds the romantic against the realistic at every turn and brilliantly reverses all the usual expectations of Shakespearean comedy. And some of Shakespeare’s most inventive language gives life to not just his single-minded heroine and her churlish lover, but a fantastic cast of frauds, cynics, sentimentalists and buffoons.
After studying drama at Manchester University, Roger Allam co-founded the feminist theatre group The Monstrous Regiment.
For more information, company photos, press cuttings, interviews, recordings and much more, please visit the treasure trove that is The Monstrous Regiment‘s official website.
The company’s archives are lodged with the Theatre and Performance Archives at the Victoria and Albert Museum and a complete online catalogue is now available.
Theatres
image © John Haynes
image © Clark Nobby
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image © Nigel Norrington
image © Nigel Norrington
image © Geraint Lewis
image © Geraint Lewis
image © Keith Stern / Sir Ian McKellen
image © Geraint Lewis
image © Geraint Lewis
image © Catherine Ashmore
image © Donald Cooper
image © Prince of Wales Theatre
Theatre
Theatre
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image © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
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