Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory

Last updated
1959358.stf-logo-black.png

Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory
Formation2000 (2000)
TypeTheatre Company
PurposeShakespeare and Classic drama
HeadquartersThe Tobacco Factory, Raleigh Road, Bristol
Region served
Bristol / England
Website stf-theatre.org.uk OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory is a professional theatre company based at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol, England. It was founded by Andrew Hilton in 1999, with the initial aim of producing two Shakespeare plays between mid February and May each year. The plan was to operate without subsidy, seeking instead sponsorship and using an ensemble of actors recruited or each season. Hilton, an established actor, had spent ten years teaching the craft of Shakespearean theatre at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Contents

History

In 2000, the company's first season consisted of productions of King Lear and A Midsummer Night's Dream . These were well received by critics such as Toby O'Connor Morse of The Independent , who commented on Lear: "One of the finest productions of Shakespeare – or any other playwright for that matter – seen in Bristol in years". [1] On A Midsummer Night's Dream, Lyn Gardner of The Guardian commented: [2]

Andrew Hilton's brilliantly clear, beautifully simple production is played on an almost totally bare rectangular space with the audience sitting on three sides. Yet despite its minimalism, it conjures up a rare sense of enchantment, creating the feeling that it would be easy to slip between the parallel worlds of humans and fairies. To do this with just a single strand of fairy lights, music and unaccompanied voices is something of an achievement.

For the 2001 season, the company paired Measure for Measure with Coriolanus . Both productions were well received; Susannah Clapp of The Observer , reviewing Measure for Measure, stated: [3]

More and more it seems the best theatre is happening outside theatre buildings. Take the company called Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory. Just over a year ago its artistic director Andrew Hilton commandeered an industrial building once central to Bristol's financial prosperity. .... He is eliciting luminous performances, producing forceful, distinctly articulated Shakespeare.

and on Coriolanus, Jeremy Kingston of The Times described the company as "one of the most exciting theatre companies in the land." [4]

For their third season, The Winter's Tale accompanied Twelfth Night . John Peter of The Sunday Times said of The Winter's Tale, "The costumes are striking and the props are few. Hilton's production, with the audience on four sides, is clean, clear and swift." [5] and Lyn Gardner on Twelfth Night described the production style: [6]

Hilton .... is a plain cook, whose unadorned approach – no concept, the barest stage possible, music used sparingly – pays dividends, largely because the acting has a telescopic clarity. Every emotion seems magnified, particularly in this production, in which laughter and tears mingle and the losers as much as the lovers take centre stage. This is comedy with an ache in its heart.

The 2003 season productions of Troilus and Cressida and As You Like It were praised by critics, who noted that they "differ both from the RSC showcase efforts and the worthy but often laboured school curriculum ad-hoc companies." [7] and

It is tiresome to have to use a small, unsubsidised company in the suburbs of Bristol to beat the great RSC about the head, but one lesson Boyd and his team might learn from the Tobacco Factory's As You Like It is that it is time to return to basics. Stop spending money on big, ugly sets. Concentrate your (and the audience's) mind on the space, the actors, the words. If you have spare money, spend it on costumes. Those were the priorities of the Elizabethan managers. [8]

2004 brought an end to the initial five-year plan, with productions of Macbeth and Middleton's The Changeling, which, after a spring run in Bristol, transferred to the Barbican Centre in London for a five-week run in the autumn. [9]

In May 2004 the company was reborn as a charity as it now continues, named Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory 2004 Limited. [10] [11] This new status allowed charitable donations and an element of subsidy to be sought. In subsequent years the company has produced many more Shakespeare plays, as well as Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya , and Molière's The Misanthrope . Jonathan Miller was guest director for a 2008 production of Hamlet . [12] Polinina Kalinina joined the company as the second guest director in 2015 for the production of Romeo and Juliet.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Shakespeare Company</span> British theatre company

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and on tour across the UK and internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Hall (director)</span> English theatre, opera and film director (1930–2017)

Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall CBE was an English theatre, opera and film director. His obituary in The Times declared him "the most important figure in British theatre for half a century" and on his death, a Royal National Theatre statement declared that Hall's "influence on the artistic life of Britain in the 20th century was unparalleled". In 2018, the Laurence Olivier Awards, recognising achievements in London theatre, changed the award for Best Director to the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director.

Bell Shakespeare is an Australian theatre company specialising in the works of William Shakespeare, his contemporaries and other classics. It is based in Sydney.

Declan Michael Martin Donnellan is an English film/stage director and author. He co-founded the Cheek by Jowl theatre company with Nick Ormerod in 1981. In addition to his Cheek by Jowl productions, Donnellan has made theatre, opera and ballet with a variety of companies across the world. In 1992, he received an honorary degree from the University of Warwick and in 2004 he was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his work in France. In 2010, he was made an honorary fellow of Goldsmiths' College, University of London. Donnellan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic Dromgoole</span> British theatre director and writer

Dominic Dromgoole is an English theatre director and writer about the theatre who has recently begun to work in film. He lives in Hackney with his three daughters and partner Sasha Hails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great River Shakespeare Festival</span> Professional equity theatre company in Winona, Minnesota

The Great River Shakespeare Festival (GRSF) is a professional equity theatre company in Winona, Minnesota, a Mississippi River town in the southeastern part of the state. Starting in 2004, it has produced several simultaneous performances each summer, held at the Winona State University DuFresne Performing Arts Center, with annual audiences of over 10,000. Its 2024 season runs from June 27 to July 28.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado Shakespeare Festival</span> Shakespeare festival in Boulder, Colorado

The Colorado Shakespeare Festival is a professional acting company in association with the University of Colorado at Boulder. It was established in 1958, making it one of the oldest such festivals in the United States, and has roots going back to the early 1900s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anton Lesser</span> English actor

Anton Lesser is a British actor. He is known for his roles as Qyburn in the HBO series Game of Thrones, Harold Macmillan in The Crown, Clement Attlee in A United Kingdom, Chief Superintendent Bright in Endeavour, and Major Partagaz in Star Wars: Andor. An associate of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he has performed numerous Shakespearean roles on stage and television.

The Complete Works was a festival set up by the Royal Shakespeare Company, running between April 2006 and March 2007 at Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The festival aimed to perform all of Shakespeare's works, including his sonnets, poems and all 37 plays. The RSC claims that this was their largest project in its history.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a regional theatre company in Washington, D.C., United States. The theatre company focuses primarily on plays from the Shakespeare canon, but its seasons include works by other classic playwrights such as Euripides, Henrik Ibsen and Oscar Wilde.

Nicholas Ronald Ormerod OBE is a British theatre designer and co-founder of the international theatre company Cheek by Jowl. In 1981 he founded Cheek by Jowl with Declan Donnellan, and they are the company's co-artistic directors. In addition to his Cheek by Jowl productions, Ormerod has made theatre, opera and ballet with companies across the world. He studied law at Trinity College, Cambridge before studying for BA in theatre design at the Wimbledon School of Art.

The Ian Charleson Awards are theatrical awards that reward the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors under age 30. The awards are named in memory of the British actor Ian Charleson, and are run by the Sunday Times newspaper and the National Theatre. The awards were established in 1990 after Charleson's death, and have been awarded annually since then. Sunday Times theatre critic John Peter (1938–2020) initiated the creation of the awards, particularly in memory of Charleson's extraordinary Hamlet, which he had performed shortly before his death. Recipients receive a cash prize, as do runners-up and third-place winners.

The York Shakespeare Project (YSP) was set up in 2001 to perform all of Shakespeare's plays within a twenty-year period in the city of York. The project is a registered charity, with a stated aim of providing "a long-term cultural, educational and community resource for the people of York and beyond by involving the wider York community in the production of the whole cycle of Shakespearean drama."

Alex Waldmann is an English actor from London. He is married to director Amelia Sears.

John Dougall is a British actor. He trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He is notable for his appearances on television, radio and the stage, including Anne Boleyn and several productions for Propeller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Shakespeare</span> 20th/21st-century American theatre company

Georgia Shakespeare was a professional, not-for-profit theatre company located in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States on the campus of Oglethorpe University from 1985-2014. Georgia Shakespeare produced three plays annually, primarily between June and November. Twelve educational programs were developed in the history of Georgia Shakespeare. These programs included "The High School Tour", a "High School Acting Competition", "Camp Shakespeare", a "High School Conservatory", a "No Fear Shakespeare" training program for educators, after school residencies, school tours, student matinees, classes for professionals, and in-school workshops. At its peak, it welcomed 60,000 patrons annually to its performances.

Andrew Piers Marsden Hilton is an English actor, theatre director, and author best known for the creation of the Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory company in Bristol 1999 - 2021.

Collin Hurley is an English actor and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and the Shakespeare's Globe company, specialising in performing the works of William Shakespeare.

Katy Stephens is a British actress and former children's presenter. She has appeared in leading roles with Shakespeare's Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company with whom she is an Associate Artist. She played Nicky in London's Burning, and was a co-presenter on The Fun Song Factory in the 1990s.

<i>Troilus and Cressida</i> Play by William Shakespeare

Troilus and Cressida is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1602.

References

  1. ↑ O'Connor Morse, Toby (17 February 2000). "Shakespeare meets 'The Long Good Friday'". The Independent . Archived from the original on 20 December 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  2. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (31 March 2000). "Magic on a Shoestring". The Guardian – archived report on SATTF web site. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  3. ↑ Clapp, Susannah (4 March 2001). "The play's set in an asylum. Naturally, we're watching from padded seats" . The Observer . p. 13 – via InfoTrac Newsstand.
  4. ↑ Kingston, Jeremy (29 March 2001). "Coriolanus" . The Times . p. 23 – via InfoTrac Newsstand.
  5. ↑ Peter, John (24 February 2002). "Rest of the week's theatre" . The Sunday Times . p. 18 – via InfoTrac Newsstand.
  6. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (1 April 2002). "Twelfth Night: Tobacco Factory, Bristol 4/5" . The Guardian . p. 14 – via InfoTrac Newsstand.
  7. ↑ Parsons, Gordon (13 February 2003). "Troilus and Cressida". Morning Star . p. 9.
  8. ↑ Peter, John (30 March 2003). "Out of touch" . Sunday Times – via InfoTrac Newsstand.
  9. ↑ Cavendish, Dominic (16 May 2003). "Where's the Barbican going? Back to Shakespeare, naturally". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 20 August 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  10. ↑ "SHAKESPEARE AT THE TOBACCO FACTORY LTD" . Company Profiles. Lexis-Nexis . Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  11. ↑ "Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory" . Company Profiles. Lexis-Nexis . Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  12. ↑ Smith, Peter J. (September 2008). "Review of Shakespeare's Hamlet (directed by Jonathan Miller) at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol, March- May 2008". Shakespeare. 4 (3). Taylor & Francis: 324–327. doi:10.1080/17450910802295427. S2CID   191581357.
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.