Finding the Will
FINDING THE WILL
Patrons: Bernard Cribbins OBE, Sue Pritchard, Lord Blair of Boughton & The Lady Blair
BARD HEADS
REVIEWS
“BARD HEADSis a hugely enjoyable piece of theatre. It is beautifully written, brilliantly acted and was breathtakingly innovative. This is a must-see, whether a Shakespeare fan or not”
Chris Jaeger, Director, Swan Theatre, Worcester June 2010
“BARD HEADSwent down a storm at this year’s Corsham Fringe Festival, and is the kind of show which will work perfectly in a village venue”
The Pound Arts Team, Corsham, Wiltshire June 2010
“ Following a terrific performance in last year’s festival, FINDING THE WILLis back with two new monologues based on Hamlet and Macbeth”
Michael Cainen, The Pound Arts Centre, Corsham, Wiltshire
May 2011
Witty duo take on the Bard
Bard Heads
Brinkworth Village Hall
Rural Arts Wiltshire
Malvolio’s been on an anger management course and Meg, The Third Witch From The Left, is having therapy sessions – but it’s far from doom and gloom in this witty take on two of Shakespeare’s characters.
This is The Bard in a refreshingly new light brought to life by Richard Curnow and Jules Hobbs.
Bard Heads is an electrifying one-to-one between each character and the audience and is packed to the brim with humour, darkness and pathos.
Colourful Malvolio, victim of the yellow stockings’ jest doesn’t like jokes. And three months on it still rankles as he paces a tower overlooking the shores of Illyria. Richard Curnow delves deep under Malvolio’s skin skillfully bringing light and shade to his powerful, physical, performance revealing Malvolio as a tragic character.
Jules Hobbs brings her own magic to Meg who is attending therapy sessions, telling her story to the audience.In an engaging, witty and extraordinarily poignant performance, it transpires Meg was a 16 year old trainee witch sent to a lonely Scottish heath on work experience and witnessed Macbeth’s downfall.
These cracking stories have all the ingredients of a Hollywood blockbuster packed into two 50 minute solo pieces of superb performance.
Gina Hobbs
Wiltshire Gazette and Herald
8 April 2011
Some Audience comments
“Beautifully performed and chillingly convincing”(Cheltenham Everyman Studio)
“All strength to your arms, especially in lifting the blight on Shakespeare and letting him free to be appreciated.” (Cheltenham Everyman Studio)
"Not only did we stay awake despite 9 hours of jet-lag, but we were riveted by the performances, glued to every word and nuance"(Cheltenham Everyman Studio)
“A fantastic evening – the best one of these events I’ve been to” (Cholderton Village Hall)
“I didn’t really know what to expect – but I didn’t expect that! I loved it!Thank you for a wonderfully entertaining evening” (Morgans Vale and Woodfalls Village Hall)
“I didn’t know anything about Twelfth Night – now I’m going to go home and read it!” (Morgans Vale and Woodfalls Village Hall)
“I’m not afraid to say I had a tear in my eye at the end” (Brinkworth Village Hall)
FINDING THE WILL performed BARD HEADS as part of the Rural Arts Wiltshire and Rural Arts South Gloucestershire Spring season in Cholderton, Morgans Vale & Woodfalls, Brinkworth, Rowde and Hullavington Village Halls during Spring 2011 and 2012; at the Phoenix Theatre, Ross-on-Wye in May and September 2011, Corsham Fringe Festival and Worcester Literary Festival in June 2011, The Lion Ballroom, Leominster in March 2012 and Cheltenham Everyman Studio in July 2012.FINDING THE WILLwill be touring Cumbria, Co Durham and Northumbria as part of the Highlights Rural Touring Autumn season and joining the Arts Alive Rural Touring scheme in 2013.
The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald
ARCHIVE - THURSDAY, 23 JUNE 2011
Seeing Shakespeare inside out
By Jo Bayne
Jules Hobbs and Richard Curnow have developed a highly entertaining way of exploring Shakespeare’s plays, from the inside, through the eyes and ears of minor characters.
They are irreverent, quirky, enlightening and hugely entertaining.
Mr Curnow in modern dress is Osric, a 17-year-old courtier in the court of King Claudius at the time of the Elsinore massacre 35 years earlier, in which Prince Hamlet and numerous other members of the Danish nobility died.
Osric – call me Oz – is in therapy, tormented by a guilty secret from that time which he cannot bring himself to reveal. That is until first the local paper, then radio and finally national television latch on to him after he rubbishes a biography of Hamlet – The People’s Prince – by Hamlet’s friend Horatio. A clever chat show host finally goads his secret from him.
The obvious parallel is someone besmirching the fairy princess image of Diana Princess of Wales.
Ms Hobbs is an endearing Meg, third witch from the left in the Macbeth tragedy. She is also in the present day and in group therapy, but is over 400 years old and cannot die until she has made amends for her part in the Scottish murders.
Courtesy of Tardis Travel recommended by Which (Witch) magazine – come on keep up – Meg, born in Avebury, travels back to 1606 to find out what has become of the some of the victims of the Macbeth’s evil plotting. At the time Meg was a 16 work-experience witch and not really responsible for the ambiguous prophecies of her tutors on the blasted heath. But as a properly brought up young witch she feels she should have said or done something as she was aware what they were doing was wrong.
Both pieces are cleverly constructed, and have lots of tasty, topical one-liners. They could change forever the way you look at Shakespeare.
If you get a chance to see a local performance by FINDING THE WILL, don’t miss it.