2012 Company Profiles
ALAN COVENEY
ACTOR
This season: Duke of Albany in KING LEAR. Previously for SATTF: OTHELLO,THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, HAMLET, Caska in JULIUS CAESAR, ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, Egeus & Robin Starveling in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Sebastian in THE TEMPEST, RICHARD II, and Angelo in THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. Over a thirteen year period Alan produced, directed and acted in many productions as a founder-member of Show of Strength Pub Theatre Company, producing new writing and rare classics.
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King Lear
Directed by Andrew Hilton
John Shrapnel in the title role as King Lear
9 Feb - 24 March 2012
One of the pinnacles of world drama, and Shakespeare’s greatest masterpiece, King Lear is the most complete account we have of what it is – and what it is not – to be human. At a time when autocratic regimes around the world are under unprecedented threat it has also acquired a new contemporary relevance.
This play was SATTF ’s very first production twelve years ago and the company is thrilled to be bringing this new production to a much wider audience in 2012.
“Andrew Hilton’s commanding production of Richard II … is once again a revelation”
Elisabeth Mahoney - The Guardian (22 Feb 2011)
John Shrapnel is a commanding actor with a long and enviable track record in both theatre and film.
He has a huge raft of work with The National Theatre from Olivier's days to Hytner's, played in films for Warner Brothers, Dreamworks and Working Title and has worked extensively in Television and Radio. He recently played Gloucester opposite Pete Postlethwaite in Rupert Goold's Liverpool Production.
'John is a fiercely intelligent and explosive actor and I know he will relish our space and make us all sit up.'
Artistic Director, Andrew Hilton
Press Reviews
: 'Twelve years ago, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory was launched with a production of King Lear. Now the wheel has spun and the lauded company return to the play, with John Shrapnel as the rash king. There are no gimmicks here; instead, all that counts is the actors and their words....every word sounds as if it had been written yesterday.' (Jane Edwardes)
'The Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory seasons have been one of the glories of Bristol theatre for the past decade or more. Each show feels like an event: the 240-seat theatre is always packed, the audience contains more than its fair share of young people, and the plays are staged in the round with exemplary clarity and immediacy.' (John Campbell)
**** The Independent: 'This is a Lear that appals, shocks and saddens – just as it should.' (Elizabeth Davis)
****The Arts Desk: 'The company, under the inspired artistic direction of Andrew Hilton, opened its 2012 season with a brand new production that displays all the qualities that have made this remarkable company unique in Britain.' (Mark Kidel)
***The Guardian:'What Shrapnel gives us is a Lear who, even if he learns through suffering, remains a king in his own mind.' (MichaelBillington)
***** Venue Magazine: 'Stripped down and fast-paced, but above all on the button, this is a version of ‘Lear’ which ranks amongst the best – and amongst the best productions that SATTF has brought to the Tob Fac stage. So far.' (Tom Phillips)
The Stage: 'When Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory launched on an unsuspecting Bristol public with this self-same tragic masterpiece at the turn of the millennium, there were just a dozen people out front on opening night. Yet by the end of the run, word of mouth had already sparked a rush for tickets and such is the company’s enviable reputation 12 years later that a sell-out is assured for the entire six weeks.' (Jeremy Brien)
Bristol 247: 'King Lear kicks off Shakespeare Season at the Tobacco Factory – with a confidence and aptitude that comes with twelve years of producing the Bard at the very top level.' (Max Boon)
Exeunt Magazine: ''Students and sixth-formers plagued with essay questions about the Lear and Gloucester double-plot would do well to see this production........SATTF’s production is more radical in its apparent conventionality than many a highly conceptual ‘re-working’.' (Tom Phillips)
'And Shrapnel’s Lear, moving from authoritatively-dressed ruler, through sweaty derangement in a string vest to eventual white-clothed serenity with Cordelia, inhabits the costume changes with a path from brisk orders through flashes of insight amid a turbulent mind to ultimate understanding. Rarely has a Lear, or a Lear, so cohered in its various stages.' (Timothy Ramsden)
Gazette: ''Shrapnel gave a spell-bounding performance of a man with a tormented soul.'(Liza-Jane Gillespie)
British Theatre Guide: 'Regional theatre audiences may be falling, according to newspaper reports, but in Bristol, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory continues to go from strength to strength, with sell-out shows of its latest production, King Lear. (Pete Wood)
The Stage article by Stanley Wells on 'Staging King Lear': 'Hilton's admirably clear and intelligent production'
Cast
John Shrapnel King Lear
Julia Hills Goneril
Dorothea Myer-Bennett Regan
Eleanor Yates Cordelia
Alan Coveney Albany
Byron Mondahl Cornwall
Simon Armstrong Kent
Trevor Cooper Gloucester
Christopher Staines Edgar
Jack Whitam Edmund
Christopher Bianchi Lear's Fool
Paul Brendan Oswald
Benjamin O'Mahony 2nd Knight
Piers Wehner Curan
Danann McAleer as cast
Paul Currier France/ 2nd Attendant
John Sandeman Burgundy/ 2nd Captain (the Herald)
Rehearsal images
Production
Director Andrew Hilton
Associate Director Dominic Power
Designer Harriet de Winton
Composer Elizabeth Purnell
Lighting Designer Matthew Graham
Please note since first announced there has been a change to the casting.
King Lear - William Shakespeare
9 February – 24 March 2012
The Bridge Foundation Conference
Once again The Bridge Foundation and SATTF colaborated for a conference using Shakespeare's text of King Lear as its basis. The Bridge Foundation for Psychotherapy and the Arts is a well established Bristol based organisation and which was established in 1984. Therapy and counselling is provided at our main base at Sydenham Rd, Cotham and in a number of outreach places in the inner city area. We have been co-hosting lectures with SATTF since 2006.
