Blue Stockings

Shakespeare's Globe
7 October

So on they go against the tide, quick as a man

and sharp, longing to run ahead
but forced to creep, to keep their heads

below the parapet and hopes quiet.

They know that plants grown in the dark

may soon still flower and fruit;

and where a man may learn

why must a woman sit at home and wait?

 

Blue Stockings ran at Shakespeare's Globe, 24 August - 11 October

http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/whats-on/globe-theatre/blue-stockings 

Escaped Alone

Royal Court Theatre

4 March

Each has their ogre:

rat, cat, pigeon.

Each a secret wheeling

of the mind

that leads them into freak

famine or flood,

pill-popping prison,

politician's dream, 

a dread dystopia

of drought, disease

and death. 

 

Escaped Alone ran at the Royal Court from 21 January - 12 March

http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/escapedalone

Hangmen

Wyndhams Theatre
22 February

Up Oldham way,

the last hangman of all
hangs up his hat.

He knows the score,
he'll keep his council, but
if you push

he'll talk. He'll hold the floor.
Pull up a chair, he'll say,
let's have a pint,

and more. He knows this game
of noose around the neck,
and how quickly we move

rage to regret.
 

 

Hangmen runs at the Wyndhams Theatre until 5 March

http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/hangmen-west-end

Nell Gwynn

4 February
Apollo Theatre

She knows her price 
all right, this girl 
plucked from the pit,
this bit of a girl, this chit
who treads the boards
as though it were her right;
one day a whore, the next
a queen whose heart 
and tongue and wit will set 
the King alight. 

Nell Gwynn, a Shakespeare's Globe production,
runs at the Apollo Theatre until 30 April

Hardboiled: The Fall of Sam Shadow

New Diorama Theatre

16 February

In the darkness

there are accidents:

blood spilled, hearts broken.

You need a thick skin

and a sharp eye

just to see through the smoke.

Hardboiled is a co-production between Rhum and Clay, The Watermill Theatre and Beth Flintoff.

Hardboiled runs at the New Diorama Theatre until 27 February

 

Theatreland - readings and revels

I'm really thrilled that Theatreland is now in print! The collection was launched with lots of clinking glasses, fancy cakes, and six wonderful actors who brought the poems vividly to life.

Thank you to everyone who helped to make it happen, came to the party, read a poem, bought a copy (or is going to..!)

You can listen to the readings here. They are:

Fiona Drummond reading ‘The Kindness of Strangers’ (Southwark Playhouse, July 2014) and ‘Brilliant’ (Young Vic, July 2013)
Tom Clegg reading ‘Shakespeare in Love’ (Noel Coward Theatre, July 2014) and ‘The Low Road’ (Royal Court, May 2013)
Rebecca Tanwen reading ‘Orlando’ (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester) and The Master and Margarita (The Barbican Centre, January 2013)
Rosie Holt reading ‘Hymn’ (Duchess Theatre, May 2013) and ‘Wolf Hall & Bring Up the Bodies’ (Aldwych Theatre, May 2014)
Ursula Mohan reading ‘Lear’ (Union Theatre, June 2014) and ‘Father Christmas’ (Lyric Hammersmith, December 2012)
Dominic Gerrard reading ‘A Christmas Carol’ (Charles Dickens Museum, December 2012) and ‘Richard III’ (Shakespeare’s Globe, July 2012) 

Theatreland is published by Indigo Dreams Press and is available here.

Naturally you want to know what the cakes looked like too..

Jane Eyre

26 October
National Theatre

She is not poor
as they would have her be,
plain as a pikestaff,
green as the woods in spring.
She has a heart, beating
and bold beneath her petticoats,
and a voice of her own
though you would not
expect to hear it sing.
She is a woman lost
upon a rocky sea, friendless
and cut from what she had
of family, but though
she may flounder
she won't give in,
her hope burns bright
in spite of everything.

Jane Eyre runs at the National Theatre until 10 January 2016
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/jane-eyre