Galatea (c.1584) enjoyed some more research and development with actors in August 2021, as it heads towards a production in collaboration with Wildworks, when director Emma Frankland gathered theatremakers at the 101 Outdoor Creation Space (thanks to their seed funding). This post brings together a series of A Bit Lit videos with performers to discuss … Continue reading Galatea 101: Performing John Lyly in the 21st Century
galatea
Galatea 101 #3: Bea Webster on signing early modern English and queer virgins
Bea Webster talks about the process of turning sixteenth-century English into British Sign Language and the creation of appropriate signs, the importance of a diverse rehearsal room, and what it's like playing a character about to be sacrificed... Part of the Galatea residency at 101 Outdoor Creation Space. https://www.youtube.com/embed/5NeEba3FLbE
Galatea 101 #2: Nadia Nadarajah and Brian Duffy tell us about performing Diana and directing the show
Nadia Nadarajah and Brian Duffy tell us about their experiences working on the play Galatea, including translations into British Sign Language, exploring the character of the goddess Diana, and using physical communication and visual vernacular. The work forms part of Emma Frankland's production and comes out of a residency at 101 Outdoor Creation Space in … Continue reading Galatea 101 #2: Nadia Nadarajah and Brian Duffy tell us about performing Diana and directing the show
Christmas, Newyeares tyde: A summary of works done and attendance given, 2018
The Elizabethan Office of the Revels begins an important section of its yearly account books headed "Christmas, Newyeares tyde, & Twelfetyde" with descriptions of "Woorkes doone & Attendaunce geven Abowte the new making, Translating, ffytting, ffurnishing, garnishing, setting owte & Taking in againe, Making cleane & safe bestowing of sundry kyndes of Apparell properties, ffurniture, & … Continue reading Christmas, Newyeares tyde: A summary of works done and attendance given, 2018
Galatea, BritGrad and diverse alarums
What do we see when we look at early modern plays in contemporary theatre? Well, this is a very UK-based, and probably London-based answer, but we generally see a lot of white, able-bodied cis men in plays about white, able-bodied cis men; we generally see the same 10-15 plays of the 400 or so early … Continue reading Galatea, BritGrad and diverse alarums
Women in the Moons
Last year I saw Dolphin's Back's Woman in the Moon; last night I saw Edward's Boy's Woman in the Moon. This is presumably the first time in history anyone has been able to see multiple Women in the Moons, and we're very grateful to both companies for sharing their work with us on this play. It's … Continue reading Women in the Moons
The Sound of Lyly: Galatea Interview
We recently had a chance to interview Vicky Abbott, the musical lead on Emma Frankland's Galatea project, and we asked her what it was like writing music for a sixteenth-century play in a modern production. We feature here some of Vicky's brilliant recordings (©Vicky Abbott) along with choreographed responses to songs that have been crucial … Continue reading The Sound of Lyly: Galatea Interview
Galatea in Cornwall: Finding Gods in Truro
For this week's R&D workshops, Emma Frankland and Mydd Pharo are joined by Kellan Frankland, Krishna Istha, Mzz Kimberley, and Nadia Nadarajah in and around Truro (based at the Hall of Cornwall, thanks to their support) for a week looking at Galatea's Gods and their divine interactions: Neptune, Venus, her son Cupid, and Diana and … Continue reading Galatea in Cornwall: Finding Gods in Truro
Getting Mortal in St Austell: Galatea in Cornwall
We are joining Emma Frankland and her crew of artists and players for the next few days. Emma is spending this week and next week with two groups of artists to explore in more detail some of the themes and scenes of John Lyly's Galatea, building on research and development workshops from last August. The … Continue reading Getting Mortal in St Austell: Galatea in Cornwall
Venus’s Palaces
She’s got it, Yeah baby, she’s got it ---Shocking Blue For 1570s and 1580s theatregoers, love was all around. One of the defining characteristics of the earliest surviving commercial plays is the predominance of the character Venus or her allegorical equivalent, Love. “Theaters and curtaines Venus pallaces,” reads a marginal note in Philip Stubbes’s The … Continue reading Venus’s Palaces
Before Shakespeare 