A COUPLE of non Shakespearerean classics are brought to the stage of Stratford’s Swan Theatre.
The RSC present Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and an adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes’ comic novel Don Quixote.
Cervantes’ epic is widely regarded as one of the foundation stones of modern fiction. To mark the 400th anniversary of the author’s death, the story of a self-fashioned travelling knight accompanied by his faithful squire is newly adapted for the stage by award winning poet, writer and journalist James Fenton.
Angus Jackson directs David Threlfall in the title role, with Rufus Hound as his sidekick Sancho Panza.
Threlfall is a veteran of the stage but is best known to most as Frank Gallagher in Channel 4’s Shameless. Don Quixote marks a long-awaited return to the RSC for Thelfall who was in Trevor Nunn’s legendary production of Nicholas Nickleby in 1980.
Comedian and actor Hound recently appeared in the Rose Theatre Kingston’s War of the Roses cycle, and starred alongside Robert Lindsay in the musical adaptation of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in 2014 after performing in the hit show One Man, Two Guvnors. He also hosts the radio series My Teenage Diary, which runs regularly on BBC Radio 4.
Marlowe’s tale of of vanity, greed and damnation is directed by Maria Aberg and will see Sandy Grierson and Oliver Ryan share the roles of the embittered academic Faustus and the demon Mephistopheles, alternating the parts at each performance.
Grierson returns to the RSC after playing Ariel in The Tempest in 2012. His RSC debut came in The Thirteen Midnight Challenges of Angelus Diablo, a RSC production commissioned especially for Latitude Festival.
Ryan was in Aberg’s 2013 production of As You Like It in the RST. Other RSC roles include Gawain in Gregory Doran’s 2010 production of Morte D’Arthur, and Benvolio in Rupert Goold’s Romeo and Juliet.
Doctor Faustus runs from February 4 to August 4, and Don Quixote from February 25 to May 21.
Visit www.rsc.org.uk for tickets and further details.
