Hello. It’s Woody here. How are you? I’m fine, thank you for asking. Today I’m going to be looking at some words from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby. As I may have mentioned before I am an Atheist. By Jove does not to my knowledge have any official stance towards religion; as a topic it’s never come up in our Board meetings. (I know, right? I’m on a Board of Trustees. Read more
This week Woody discusses the idea of ideas and argues in favour of argument. Hello. We here at By Jove HQ love equality. It’s really rather high up on the list of our favourite things. In fact it’s so high up that its only realistic rivals for top spot are theatre and the phrase “I’m putting the kettle on, does anybody else want a drink?” Put simply we believe that a person’s sex/gender/sexuality/race/class doesn’t make Read more
This week Woody takes look at one of the better thoughts ever written into a poem. Hello. It might have come up previously, but bears mentioning again. I am By Jove’s resident Classicist. This role consists of: 1) smiling politely and uncomprehendingly during the really in-depth dramatic theory; 2) muttering in a slightly superior tone when discussions of the aforementioned theory get too time-consuming and difficult something to the effect of “bloody thespians”; 3) apologising Read more
This week Woody shares some thoughts on how By Jove’s Othello stands. Hello. A few days ago we had a little Work in Progress showing of our Othello, written and directed by SJ Brady, at the CLF Theatre, Peckham. I went to see it and thought I’d share a few thoughts – let you know how we’re going, sort of thing. I’m not directly involved with the production, so what follows is simply the perspective of one audience Read more
This week By Jove’s Blog Editor Woody writes a little about his own Humanist world view. Hello. You know what’s exciting? Well, firstly on 10th of April we are showing a work in progress of our Othello at the CLF Theatre, Peckham. That’s very exciting. The other thing that’s exciting is that I can use this blog to write about almost whatever I like. Trick the higher-ups into trusting you and you are generally allowed Read more
By Jove Co-Artistic Director David Bullen takes a quick retrospective on the first two years of the company’s work and gives a tantalising glimpse into what’s in store for future projects… In November 2011, a small group of actors, directors, writers, musicians, and students met at the National Theatre for what would become the first meeting of By Jove Theatre Company. Most of us were currently working on a production with Royal Holloway Classical Read more
This week By Jove’s Blog Editor and resident Classicist discusses looking to the past for inspiration. Hello. We here at By Jove work with tales from the canon, myth, what I think of as the “Old Stories”. There are reasons for this – both artistic and philosophical – and historical precedents. I thought it might be an idea to have a bit of a chat about some of them. I shall start with some ancient Read more
By Jove’s Blog Editor Woody shares some musings on a subject very close to his, and The Company’s respective hearts. Hello. It’s Woody here. Long time no see. Terribly sorry that we’ve not posted anything up here for a while. I won’t bore you with the reasons. Just know that from now on I shall ensure you have something new and interesting to read on here every Tuesday. We have just passed an important Read more
Wendy Haines reviews Ecocentrix, an exhibition curated by Helen Gilbert with Dani Phillipson as assistant curator. I had not been to an ‘interactive’ exhibition before, so when faced with one, I was not sure what to expect. Interactive can mean anything from getting to press a few buttons, to being chased by a chainsaw-wielding maniac (thank you Punch Drunk). Ecocentrix is a collaborative exhibition curated by Helen Gilbert of Royal Holloway University of London and assistant-curator Dani Read more
For this rebirth of By Jove’s period panto, we’ve added in the welcome addition of a chorus. This chorus consists of four women, and within only a few rehearsals, already some fascinating questions of how to mock or criticize ‘objectification’ have arisen. The chorus are essentially fulfilling the role of backing singers and dancers, which when placed in the hands of a feminist theater company, could never be taken lightly. Backing singers and dancers Read more