A kingdom in which a woman is presenting as a man to hold on to power. 

 

Where feudal law has returned due to a ravaging civil war.

 

Where the politics of old and young wrestle with each other to maintain a fragile peace.

 

And where the state has become a playground full of scraps, scratches and scraped knees.

 

A world not so different to this one.

 

Quandary Collective take Shakespeare’s words and fuse them with muscular movement, bloody violence and electronic beats, to bring you a gut-wrenching rendition of Shakespeare’s classic that’s somewhere between Mad Max: Fury Road, an episode of Game of Thrones and what it might have been like to stand in the pit at The Globe in 1595.

 

This young company’s fearless adaptation looks at what it means to lead a country, the insidious effects of toxic masculinity, and why gender continually seems to matter in positions of power.

 

“For you have but mistook me all this while…” 

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★★★★★ - BN1 Magazine

 ★★★★ - North West End

 ★★★★- London Theatre Reviews

 ★★★★ - Play Shakespeare

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Creatives

Written by William Shakespeare

Adapted by Quandary Collective

Directed by Annie McKenzie

Produced by Scraped Knees Productions

Producer: Velenzia Spearpoint

Movement Director: Zoe Villiers

Fight Director: Jonathan Holby

Composer: Kester Hynds

Lighting Designer: Rachel Sampley

Set & Costume Designer: Valentine Gigadet

Stage Manager: Demelza Monk

Technician: Corinne Bills

PR: Eleanor Hill

 

Cast

Coco Maertens: Richard II

George Alexander: Henry Bolingbroke

Joseph Quartson: John of Gaunt/The Bishop of Carlisle

Edwin Flay: The Duke of York

Troy Richards: Sir Thomas Mowbray/Lord Ross

Ashley Hodgson: Aumerle

Danann McAleer: Northumberland

Joshua Picton: Bushy/Sir Stephen Scroop