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FRASER GRACE Online- the Plays (3): Frobisher's Gold
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Synopsis Frobisher's Gold is a surreal comedy, anchored in fact. The play follows the adventures of privateer Martin Frobisher and his side-kick, the hapless surgeon Crowe, as they attempt to bring back gold from the Arctic. When their heartbroken patron Queen Elizabeth I appears on the ice and the explorers discover the headless corpse of her lover, Devereaux, things get tricky...
Cast: seven required (5 male, 2 female)
Menagerie Theatre, Junction Theatre, Cambridge & Shaw Theatre, London, 2006. Directed by Paul Bourne, Associate Director Rachel Aspinwall. Elizabeth I.....................................Janet Suzman Martin Frobisher ..........................Darren Strange William Crowe................................Patrick Morris Walsingham.....................................Terry Molloy Robert Devereaux/Mr Walker............Jamie Belam Bo' Sun........................................Dennis Quilligan Ship's Boy.....................................Caroline Rippin Design by Richard Matthews, Video Design by Chris Rogers, Music & Sound Design by Scott Myers, Lighting by Sherry Coenen, Costumes by Alexandra Khariban | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Fraser's View Enormous credit to Cambridge's own Menagerie Theatre for commissioning this play. After working together on Gifts of War and again on Butterfly Fingers, Artistic Director Paul Bourne asked if I'd write a full-length piece for the company - and got more than he'd bargained for! The technical and design requirements of the play are extensive, taking us from the Royal Palace at Windsor, through a shipwreck at sea, and on to the Arctic ice sheet. Then things get strange - a man's severed head screams for mercy, Queen Elizabeth appears in her furs, the crew are transformed into animals - and the play transports us back to England! Rachel Aspinwall as Associate Director at Menagerie put in great work on the dramaturgy of the play - and on the movement in the production - and several old friends featured in the cast including Patrick Morris, Darren Strange, Caroline Rippin and oldest, if not dearest of them all, Terry Molloy (Mike Tucker in BBC Radio 4's The Archer's). They were led by the legendary Janet Suzman, whose performance as Elizabeth was astounding, and a real coup for Menagerie; why cast someone to play a queen, when you can get one? It was a great, rollicking adventure, and great to work on something which mixed so much comedy and drama, history and fantasy. As you will see below, the critics were divided about the play - especially about which part they liked! Thoughts for the future: definitely a feeling of unfinished business with this play. Reviews Clipped 'As in his earlier, implosive 'Breakfast with Mugabe', Grace searches in the most personal of debris for the elusive causes of imperialism, and the uncharted casualties it inflicts on the human heart...The early scenes, where Suzman holds unshakeable sway, are enthralling, but all too soon we veer wildly off course...Much dreary silliness follows...' Lucy Powell, Time Out 'Peerlessly acted by a superb cast led by Janet Suzman, this is a rare play that gets better the longer it chunters on. Up to the interval it is a tedious, historical drama. But with arrival of Elizabeth in the Arctic wastes, the whole thing suddenly bursts into surreal life. In the second half the play dazzles with its wit and wordplay......'.Lyn Gardener, The Guardian
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