This year’s annual Game of Thrones fever was an intense few weeks. The series is coming to a close, drawing together loose threads and tying up character arcs established six seasons ago. This is hugely exciting for long term fans of the series and fans of good television in general – because, let’s be honest, Thrones has been outstanding television. But now we’re approaching the end, we’re able to take stock of how the series Read more
Hi readers! I’m Chrissie, By Jove’s Research and Education Co-ordinator, and now, your friendly neighbourhood blog editor – you might know me from our recent semi-academic article series SPARAGMOS accompanying our Season of Violent Women. I’m taking over the running of the blog to give our writers more time to work on their creative endeavours – but don’t worry, the faces and voices you’ve come to know and love will still be featured here regularly! Read more
Next week will see the debut of Here She Comes, the second show in our Season of Violent Women. Ahead of the opening night on Monday, Wendy Haines caught up with the show’s writer, director, and performer SJ Brady… SJ Brady is long-time friend, colleague and collaborator; a whirlwind of creativity, humour and heart who inspires every person fortunate enough to pass her storm. As a talented writer, director and performer, she is a pleasure for Read more
In anticipation of the second show in By Jove’s Season of Violent Women, an epic poem based on Euripides’ Bacchae (written and performed by By Jove’s own SJ Brady with music by Vivienne Youel) Alexander Woodward addresses the impossible question of what makes a poem. Hello. This is going to be a discussion of what makes a piece of writing or speech a poem rather than some other form of written or performed work. There Read more
It’s been a grim week in politics (at least for some). Here, our co-artistic director David Bullen shares his thoughts… Last week we performed Margaret of Anjou, a reinvention of Shakespeare’s first tetralogy. In the programme we noted the parallels in the play with the American presidential election: Margaret is effectively labelled a ‘nasty woman’. Although Margaret gains power in the narrative shared by our play and Shakespeare’s original quartet of dramas, she never completely Read more
This week on the By Jove blog, something we’ve not had in a while: a good, old-fashioned RANT, courtesy of our co-artistic director, David Bullen… This week Shakespeare’s Globe announced that their artistic director, Emma Rice, is to step down in 2018 after producing a mere two seasons at the theatre. The reasoning behind this departure is apparently quite simple. Rice’s vision involves bringing in modern lighting and sound equipment, and the Globe’s board feel Read more
With less than two weeks to go until the opening of our Season of Violent Women, co-artistic director David Bullen explores why we might have to think about renaming the whole thing… The current race to be the next president of the USA has historic significance: for the first time ever, a woman is in the running. Gender has lingered on the edge of consciousness in this election, without the blatant sexist attacks of 2008 Read more
Last week we were excited to announce the four women taking on Shakespeare’s ‘new’ play in a month’s time. Now you can find a little bit more about them on this week’s blog… Come November, four women will perform Margaret of Anjou at the Gallery on the Corner in Battersea (you can buy tickets here, by the way). Shakespeare’s ‘new’ play is pieced together from the Henry VI trilogy and Richard III – so the Read more
Our resident musical theatre expert, Nicole Savin, has dug into the archives to highlight some of the reasons why musicals are home to so many violent women… Pop. Six. Squish. Violent women are fairly easy to find in Greek tragedy – By Jove have dug up two for our upcoming season. Agave (from Euripides’ The Bacchae) and Medea will be the focus of the season’s 2017 shows and in the past we’ve featured Clytemnestra and Electra. But for anything more recent than Read more
This week, By Jove artistic associate Susanna Dye provides some insight into the start of her process for the company’s upcoming project… To begin our Season of Violent Women, By Jove are staging the British premiere of Margaret of Anjou. The play text has been pieced together from Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy and Richard III by Professor Elizabeth Schafer and Philippa Kelly, who have extracted the complete narrative arc following the rise and fall of this formidable figure, Read more