I Am Thomas

Last updated
I Am Thomas: A Brutal Comedy with Songs
I Am Thomas.jpg
Date premiered24 February 2016 (2016-02-24)
Place premiered Liverpool Playhouse
Original language English
Subject Thomas Aikenhead
Setting Edinburgh 1696 and Present Day

I Am Thomas: A Brutal Comedy with Songs is a play based around the death of Thomas Aikenhead, the last person to be hanged for blasphemy in Britain. The play received its world premiere at the Liverpool Playhouse, in February 2016, before embarking on a short UK tour. It is a co-production between Told by an Idiot, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Lyceum Theatre. [1] [2]

Contents

Production history

I Am Thomas: A Brutal Comedy with Songs is a devised theatre play [3] created by Told by an Idiot, [4] based on the real-life story of Thomas Aikenhead, a student from Edinburgh who was prosecuted and executed at the age of 20 on a charge of blasphemy. [5] He was executed at Gallow Lee in Edinburgh [6] in 1697 and was the last person in Britain to be executed for blasphemy. [7] Told through the medium of song, the play is set in Edinburgh between 1696 and present day. On 14 April 2015, it was announced by The Royal Lyceum Theatre, that the play would form part of the 50th anniversary season of the Royal Lyceum Theatre company. [8] [9] It is a co-production between Told by an Idiot, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Lyceum Theatre. [10] I Am Thomas received its world premiere at the Liverpool Playhouse on 24 February 2016, following previews from 19 February, for a limited run until 27 February. [11]

The play is directed by Paul Hunter, artistic director of Told by an Idiot, [12] with design by Laura Hopkins, [13] lighting design by Paul Anderson, [14] music by Iain Johnstone, [15] lyrics by Simon Armitage [16] and sound by Adrienne Quartly. [17] Following its premiere production the play embarked on a short UK tour [18] in March and April 2016, visiting The Lowry, Salford, Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, and Wilton's Music Hall, London. [19] The play features an ensemble cast of eight [19] who take it in turn to play the title role. [11] The cast includes John Cobb, Charlie Folorunsho, Amanda Hadingue, Myra McFadyen, Hannah McPake, John Pfumojena, [20] Dominic Marsh and Iain Johnstone who wrote the plays score. [21] A typical performance runs two hours, including one interval of 20 mins. [22]

Critical reception

The play has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. [23] [24] [25] [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edinburgh Festival Fringe</span> Arts festival

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featured more than 51,446 scheduled performances of 3,746 different shows across 262 venues from 60 different countries. Of those shows, the largest section was comedy, representing almost 40% of shows, followed by theatre, which was 26.6% of shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Les Dennis</span> English television presenter, actor, and comedian

Leslie Dennis Heseltine is an English television presenter, actor and comedian. He presented Family Fortunes from 1987 to 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Kitson</span> English comedian, actor, performer and writer

Daniel John Kitson is an English comedian, actor, performer and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Con O'Neill (actor)</span> English actor (born 1966)

Con O'Neill is an English actor. He started his acting career at the Everyman Theatre and became primarily known for his performances in musicals. He received critical acclaim and won a Laurence Olivier Award for playing Michael "Mickey" Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers. Subsequently, he was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for the same role. He has also appeared in many films and television series, including Chernobyl, The Batman and Our Flag Means Death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen K. Amos</span> English comedian

Stephen Kehinde Amos is a British comedian and television personality. A regular on the international comedy circuit, he is known for including his audience members during his shows. He began his career as a compere at the Big Fish comedy clubs in South London, and has been nominated for Chortle's Best Compere Award three times in 2004, 2007 and 2008.

Philip Franks is an English actor and director, known to the public chiefly for his roles in English television series, such as The Darling Buds of May and Heartbeat.

David Greig is a Scottish playwright and theatre director. His work has been performed at many of the major theatres in Britain, including the Traverse Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, Royal Lyceum Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and been produced around the world.

Laura Wade is an English playwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Smiles</span> British playwright

Roy Smiles is a singer-songwriter & playwright from Ealing, London. He is also an occasional actor.

Daniel Craig Jackson, also known as D.C. Jackson, is a Scottish playwright, born in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre</span>

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre is a comedy act that began in the United Kingdom in 2005 and has performed nationally and internationally since. They first appeared as part of The Sitcom Trials in London. They appeared in the Gilded Balloon at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2022 attracting highly positive reviews. The act has toured nationally and internationally every year since 2008 including Australia, Holland, Denmark and the Channel Isles. Prestigious appearances have included the Cheltenham Literary Festival and the Edinburgh International Magic Festival. They have appeared on BBC TV's The One Show, Comedy Shuffle, The Culture Show, Points West and Upstaged, GMTV, MTV, Current TV and Channel 4's Big Brother's Little Brother.

Dominic Marsh is an English theatre, television, and film actor.

Daniel Sloss is a Scottish comedian, actor, and writer.

Zinnie Harris FRSE is a British playwright, screenwriter and director currently living in Edinburgh. She has been commissioned and produced by the Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her plays have been translated and performed in many countries across Europe and the globe.

<i>Dark Road</i> (play)

Dark Road is a 2013 play written by Ian Rankin and Mark Thomson. It made its world premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh in September 2013, and is expected to embark on a UK tour in 2014.

<i>Kill Johnny Glendenning</i>

Kill Johnny Glendenning is a Scottish comedy crime thriller play written by D C Jackson. It made its world premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh in September 2014, before transferring to the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow.

Andrew Dallmeyer was a Scottish playwright, theatre director and actor. He wrote over 75 plays, including the Opium Eater and directed more than 50 productions. His plays have won a number of awards, including a Scottish BAFTA, and they have been played on BBC Radio.

<i>Local Hero</i> (musical) 2019 musical by Mark Knopfler

Local Hero is a musical with music and lyrics by Mark Knopfler, and a book by Bill Forsyth and David Greig. The musical is based on the 1983 film of the same name, written by Bill Forsyth. It tells the story of an American oil company representative who is sent to the fictional village of Furness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and surrounding property for his company. The musical made its world premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh in March 2019.

Told by an Idiot are a British theatre company which specialises in devised and physical theatre. Following their 1995 Edinburgh Fringe Festival debut, the group, also known as The Idiots, continue to create comedies based on bleak source material. Throughout their career, the outfit’s core members Hayley Carmichael, Paul Hunter and John Wright collaborated with The Royal Shakespeare Company, Scottish actor Richard Wilson, and poet laureates Carol Anne Duffy and Simon Armitage.

<i>Pride and Prejudice*</i> (*sort of) 2018 play by Isobel McArthur

Pride and Prejudice* is a play by Isobel McArthur, with songs, based on Jane Austen's novel. The play is designed for a cast of five or six women, each playing a servant and several of the main characters. After an initial production in Scotland in 2018 and a tour in 2019–20, it opened in the West End in 2021 and toured again in 2022–23. The production won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play.

References

  1. ↑ "Simon Armitage on his comedy about the last man hanged for blasphemy". theguardian.com. The Guardian. 17 February 2016. Archived from the original on 19 February 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  2. ↑ "Theatre that minds your language". heraldscotland.com. The Herald. 22 March 2016. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Told by an Idiot tells the story of the last man hanged for blasphemy". liverpoolecho.co.uk. Liverpool Echo. 18 February 2016. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "I Am Thomas at Liverpool Playhouse". thetimes.co.uk. The Times. 25 February 2016. Archived from the original on 25 February 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  5. ↑ "I Am Thomas, a timely adaptation of a 17th century blasphemy execution". scotsman.com. The Scotsman. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  6. ↑ "I Am Thomas, a tale from Edinburgh's dark past". edinburghnews.scotsman.com. Edinburgh Evening News. 22 March 2016. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "I Am Thomas at the Liverpool Playhouse". liverpoolecho.co.uk. Liverpool Echo. 24 February 2016. Archived from the original on 25 February 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "The Lyceum Announces 50th Anniversary Season!". lyceum.org.uk. Royal Lyceum Theatre. 14 April 2015. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "Brian Cox and Bill Paterson return to Lyceum for 50th anniversary season". list.co.uk. The List. 14 April 2015. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "A thoroughly modern travesty of 18th-century justice". heraldscotland.com. Sunday Herald. 13 March 2016. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  11. 1 2 "Told By An Idiot takes gallows humour literally in this new musical production". thestage.co.uk. The Stage. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  12. ↑ "I Am Thomas review – freedom of speech theatrics". theguardian.com. The Guardian. 28 February 2016. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  13. ↑ "'I Am Thomas' at Liverpool Playhouse". wirralglobe.co.uk. Wirral Globe. 25 February 2016. Archived from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  14. ↑ "I Am Thomas Company". whatsonstage.com. Whats On Stage. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  15. ↑ "I Am Thomas review – singalong-a-blasphemy in Simon Armitage show". theguardian.com. The Guardian. 26 February 2016. Archived from the original on 27 February 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  16. ↑ "I Am Thomas's brutal comedy is a bold theatrical experiment". telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph. 26 February 2016. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  17. ↑ "I am Thomas a brutal comedy with songs – UK Tour 2016" (PDF). nationaltheatrescotland.com. National Theatre of Scotland. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  18. ↑ "National Theatre of Scotland announce start of 10th anniversary season". whatsonstage.com. Whats On Stage. 11 November 2015. Archived from the original on 14 November 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  19. 1 2 "I Am Thomas Coming to Wilton's Music Hall in April". broadwayworld.com. Broadway World. 21 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  20. ↑ "I Am Thomas - a brutal comedy with songs Team". toldbyanidiot.org. Told By An Idiot. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  21. ↑ "Brutal comedy with songs explores hidden piece of history". salisburyjournal.co.uk. Salisbury Journal. 2 March 2016. Archived from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  22. ↑ "I Am Thomas Run Time". twitter.com/lyceumtheatre. Royal Lyceum Theatre. Archived from the original on 13 December 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  23. ↑ "A rhapsody of ill-invented nonsense, patched up partly of the moral doctrines of philosophers, and partly of poetical fictions and extravagant chimeras". list.co.uk. The List. 29 March 2016. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  24. ↑ "Brutal comedy with songs' on the last man executed for blasphemy is exuberant but confused". theartsdesk.com. The Arts Desk. 26 March 2016. Archived from the original on 28 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  25. ↑ "Theatre review: I Am Thomas, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh". scotsman.com. The Scotsman. 25 March 2016. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  26. ↑ "I Am Thomas at Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh". heraldscotland.com. The Herald. 25 March 2016. Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.