The Shoemaker's Holiday
Dec. 23rd, 2014 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smallhobbitLast year we enjoyed having a night away together just before Christmas, so in March we booked tickets for The Shoemaker's Holiday, one of two Christmas performances at the RSC this year. We also booked a double room in the Shakespeare Hotel (they had an offer on at that time). Which meant we had 24 hours, with a stay in a very comfortable hotel, to ourselves, as an escape from the holiday preparation. Such a good move.
When we booked the tickets the cast hadn't been announced, so I was delighted on looking at the programme to see that David Troughton had the role of Simon Eyre (the eponymous shoemaker). I may not rate David quite as highly as his son Sam (who I'm going to see in Bull - again) but he's an actor I've always enjoyed seeing on stage. SM hadn't seen him before and during the interval commented on what a good actor he was.
The play was written by Thomas Dekker in 1599 - he was one of the co-author's of The Witch of Edmonton, which we saw in the autumn. Although the play itself was easy to follow I think it would have helped to have a better idea of the understandings of the original audience. Some of the oblique references (nothing too obvious to avoid the author being arrested) would have made more sense if I had known the context.
None of which detracted from our enjoyment of the play. It was written, according to the prologue, to entertain, which it did extremely well. Many of the characters were larger than life and the singing and dancing contributed to the Christmas feel - even though the ending is set on Shrove Tuesday. At the same time, it left questions about how those of class and money can evade situations that the poorer cannot avoid. And, with the current emphasis on the century of the start of WW1, how the common man has no choice but to go to war when pressed.
When we booked the tickets the cast hadn't been announced, so I was delighted on looking at the programme to see that David Troughton had the role of Simon Eyre (the eponymous shoemaker). I may not rate David quite as highly as his son Sam (who I'm going to see in Bull - again) but he's an actor I've always enjoyed seeing on stage. SM hadn't seen him before and during the interval commented on what a good actor he was.
The play was written by Thomas Dekker in 1599 - he was one of the co-author's of The Witch of Edmonton, which we saw in the autumn. Although the play itself was easy to follow I think it would have helped to have a better idea of the understandings of the original audience. Some of the oblique references (nothing too obvious to avoid the author being arrested) would have made more sense if I had known the context.
None of which detracted from our enjoyment of the play. It was written, according to the prologue, to entertain, which it did extremely well. Many of the characters were larger than life and the singing and dancing contributed to the Christmas feel - even though the ending is set on Shrove Tuesday. At the same time, it left questions about how those of class and money can evade situations that the poorer cannot avoid. And, with the current emphasis on the century of the start of WW1, how the common man has no choice but to go to war when pressed.
