RSC with King Lear. Credit: RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon
Classical and Text-Based Theatre
There is a long tradition of text-based drama in Britain dating back to Shakespeare and beyond. What the term implies is a theatre based on the primacy of language and an exploration of its endless ambiguities and ironies. Obviously that does not exclude physical action or visual signifiers. But what it does mean is a basic acceptance of the view that language - whether poetry, prose or a combination of the two - is the subtlest means of exploring both situation and character.
Michael Billington, The Guardian
Royal Shakespeare Company with
King Lear. Credit: RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon.
How We Work What We Do Drama and Dance Publications and Resources Drama Genres Performance in Profile 2008 Education Drama Events Edinburgh Showcase What work does the British Council do in this area?
Classic and text-based drama from the UK has an excellent reputation globally as do our directors that are reworking and reinvigorating texts from across the centuries with a contemporary twist. High quality, text-based plays, whether staged in a modern version or delivered in a distinct visual style, have mass appeal. Our work ranges from the small to the large scale, from taking the
Royal National Theatre’s Hamlet to Belgrade two years after the bombing of former Yugoslavia to sending Gareth Armstrong’s one-man show versions of Shakespearean plays across Europe, the USA and India. But of course it’s not all Shakespeare – other examples include a Harold Pinter season that was held in Valencia, Spain and the fact that
Theatre Babel’s version of Medea rewritten by Liz Lochhead won a Dora Mavor Moore Award in Toronto, Canada for Outstanding Touring Production.
Cheek by Jowl with As You Like It. Photographer: John Haynes.
Shakespeare's play is currently being performed in Russian by an all-male cast. This production premiered in Moscow in May 2003 and will be touring in Russia for the rest of the year.
