by Elliot D Huxtable So we get to Saturday in Armenia. The Big Day. The day during which Charlotte and I are due to present our panel discussion about the Canterbury Shakespeare Festival.  You’d think we’d practise right? But no, in an act of supreme hubris, we wrote a PowerPoint about two weeks before, looked at it once and decided we could just riff it.  And we did, and it went superbly. Lesson not learned! The panel began with a fascinating discussion of a non-standard performance of Claudius in a production of Hamlet from Dr. Imke Lichterfeld, and then we were up. Charlotte and I bounced off one another as we gave a potted history of the Festival, from our hurried Romeo and Juliet back in 2015 all the way up to our recent marathon production of Shakespeare’s The Wars of the Roses (which, as I frequently say, we are the only community theatre group to ever perform as far as I can tell). This was followed by a discussion of said production, how it came about, what it consisted of, etc., and a brief screening of the Winter of Discontent speech from Richard III.  Many of the attendees had also shown an interest in seeing some of our recent Hamlet as we featured a female Hamlet - something we were to see that evening ourselves - so we gave them five minutes of the show from YouTube. Personally, I thought it went very well and we received a lot of positive feedback from the audience - I think it was a nice change from the usual academic nature of talks at these sorts of conferences. Next up was the keynote speaker, Dr. Szolt Almasy, who gave an interesting and passionate talk about love and tyranny as it features in Andras Visky’s play Júlia. This play recontextualises Romeo and Juliet to an unspecified Eastern Bloc prison, where the heroine (the only actor on stage) recounts her experiences within said prison. It sounds fabulous, and I am desperate to catch it at some point if I can. The next panel was about political rewritings of Shakespeare and was led by Professor Madalina Nicolaescu and Dr. Oana-Alis Zaharia. These brilliant academics opened my eyes to something which we really don’t have to grapple with in this country - how to stage Shakespeare in a language other than English. Madalina told us all about this production of The Merchant of Venice done in Paris in the 1700s where the play was almost entirely rewritten - Shylock is lynched at the end by an angry mob, and Portia is no longer a wealthy heiress but a struggling poetess. It sounds fantastically interesting, and I would love to read it. The final pair of talks were on Zoom and the first, by Dr. Natalia Khomenko, gave us an insight into the USSR’s opinion of British theatre (the summation was that you can’t understand Shakespeare until you see it staged in the original Russian). The second, by Professor Sheila Cavanagh talked about the tyranny of food in Shakespeare’s work. Whilst arguably a silly premise, this speech came up with two sterling examples that can be looked at from recent CSF history. The first, the infamous leek scene in Henry V (and recently brought to life by Barnaby Lockyer and Tarquin Taylor) can be seen as a rebuke by Shakespeare against certain kings who denied / ignored their Welsh heritage. The other, Richard III’s comment to the Bishop of Ely that he knows the bishop is growing nice strawberries, can be seen as a warning to the Bishop that Richard has his house under surveillance. Creepy.

by Elliot D Huxtable We finished our last blog with our own talk at the Armenian Shakespeare Conference. This next blog continues with that Saturday afternoon - the day we made it big on Armenian television! We were invited, by the organiser of the ASC, to appear with her on NUR TV on “Good Morning Armenia”, which is not dissimilar to our very own Good Morning Britain but with a merciful lack of Ricahrd Maddeley.  We were taken by taxi (everyone gets taxis everywhere in Yerevan, through the government’s own form of the Uber app, and it’s all very efficient, and cheap - often costing less than £2 to get across the capital) to the studio, a small but rather flashy affair right at the top of the capital, with beautiful vistas across both Yerevan and the surrounding countryside.  After make-up and wardrobe (well, they did make us up, and took our coats), we were run through the questions quickly and efficiently by the host of the programme, Armine Tovmasyan who was incredibly kind and generous with her time before we went on. The programme was recorded “as live” - so although it wasn’t broadcast until the Sunday, we went straight  through without any breaks (so as to make it easier on the editors). It was quite a bewildering experience, having Armine speak to us in Armenian, then having our wonderful translator and Conference host, Dr. Jasmine Seymour, translate it into English. Charlotte and I took turns in answering, concisely, in English so that Jasmine could then translate them back into Armenian for the benefits of the viewers at home. For me, that, and the fact that there was a TV directly in my eyeline so I could see precisely what they were focusing on at any time, was the most distracting thing. But it was exhilarating in a very similar way to performing on stage is - the “liveness” of the event was akin to that rush you get in front of an audience. It was also very much terrifying in the same way!   Then, in the evening, we went to the premier of Hamlet at the Yerevan Drama Theatre. This was a very interesting production, with a female Hamlet ably played by Lidia Grigoryan, in a wonderful set with als sorts of steampunk pipes and valves. There was a wonderful use of steam in various parts of the production, as well as a working shower and bath that were put to a brilliant finale for Ophelia’s death. Claudius drowned her in the bathtub, with much kicking and splashing of water, and it was a truly shocking moment.  The production was entirely in Armenian, without subtitles like Romeo & Juliet, but thanks to the fact that Charlotte had played the part back in November ‘23 and I had directed that production meant that we were able to parse what was happening (more or less), although there were some interesting liberties made with the script, including an aggressively confrontational Guildenstern, an almost mute Gertrude and a end fight with fire buckets and spades.  A particular highlight was the scene with the gravedigger - skulls had been bestrewn all over the stage, and these were, quite literally, bowled straight down the middle of the stage, shattering against the back wall. It was quite a powerful moment about the finality of death and how we’re forgotten after that fateful day. I won’t lie and say it was the most amazing Hamlet I’ve ever seen, it was far from, and there were some very strong decisions made that I disagreed with and some I even disliked, but many of our party tried to argue it was because they had a female Hamlet - that much I disagree with - female Hamlets, like cross-gendered parts of any sort, can and should work, you just have to work at it.

by Elliot D Huxtable Our final day in Armenia was a whirlwind tour of some of the most beautiful and historical parts of rural Armenia on another wonderful coach tour. Beginning at the Gerghard Monastery, a brilliant retreat literally carved into the side of a mountain, we were treated to a large dose of Armenian religious history, as well as an ancient spring legendary for its healing powers and some moving examples of khachars, the Armenian memorial cross-stones. We continued to the Temple of Garni, a reconstruction of an ancient Greek temple in the heart of Armenia. It is a bizarre contradiction in terms - a very classical ancient temple with Ionic pillars and the iconic look of ancient Greece - but in the oldest Christian nation in the world. Often described as the the most eastern remains of the Greco/Roman age, walking around this temple and the grounds is a magical experience (although it was the most touristy of all the places we visited). After this we were taken to see (and eat) the baking of Armenian lavash bread. Lavash bread is enshrined as an expression of Armenian culture in the UNESCO Intangible Heritage list, and I can see why - it is quite a uniquely thin and delicate bread, used more for wrapping food rather than forming a protective crust (pun intended). It goes brilliantly with crumbling cheese and the sharp Armenian purple basil. We were all exhausted so further trips out of Yerevan were out of the question, but we did manage a whistle stop tour of the Armenian History Museum (some fascinating articles, including the first recorded shoe in human history) as well as a bit of souvenir shopping at the large open-air arts and crafts market known as Vernissage. We were then treated to dinner by the very kind Yerevan Chamber Theatre in a street-side table of a rather fancy restaurant where we exchanged all sorts of contact information with all the various academics and artists that we had met (and if any of you are reading this, we miss you!).  As we sat in the tiny Armenian airport (it really is tiny) at 1am, we considered our trip home and found we had made a wild decision to come halfway across the world, to an academic conference with people we had never met, at only a few weeks’ notice. And yet, neither of us regret a single moment - it was a truly brilliant experience, one I long to repeat, and all the people, places and things that we experienced were truly one-of-a-kind, and we thank everyone who made it possible.

by Charlotte Groombridge It all started many years ago in the distant world of 2022. After several hours of wrapping presents, fighting with sellotape, and drinking ginger wine (a long established Christmas tradition), Elliot and myself settled down to watch the final 20 minutes of “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  We find this is the perfect film to watch whilst wrapping presents since the preamble lasts long enough that we are usually done by the time George Bailey is considering ending it all on the bridge (and the best part of the film begins).  Who knows what it was? Perhaps the Christmas spirit imbued us with a particularly creative verve. Or maybe it was the ginger wine. Either way, as the final words of Auld Lang Syne drifted away, we were already deep into riffing out a perfectly acceptable winter comedy.  The first joke wrote itself, and in a pretty accurate imitation of Zuzu’s whiny voice, we said in almost unison “Every time a bell rings, an actor gets an award”.  The main character for such a piece was obvious, for what would the world of theatre be like if Shakespeare had never been born? The Clarence character took a little more work, until we finally agreed that only Kenneth Branagh would have enough of an ego to consider himself Shakespeare’s guardian angel (no disrespect to Kenneth, of course).  Other characters slipped easily into their roles. Robert Greene, Shakespeare’s real life arch nemesis, fitted perfectly into Potter’s shoes. Anne Hathaway could fill in for Mary, and the actors of the Lord Chamberlain’s men replaced the various townspeople whose lives were changed forever by George Bailey. But who could embody the arguably most important character in the whole film, Uncle Billy? The forgetful fool who misplaces the money and sets off the events of that fateful Christmas. Kit Marlowe was the obvious choice, but instead of money, he instead loses the First Folio which, through some convoluted plot conveniences, will land Shakespeare in debtors' prison.  I’ll admit it, the play is very, very silly, and only about 20% historically accurate, with the most grievous bits of misinformation heavily lampshaded, and many winks to the audience when we borrow too liberally from the source material.  Thankfully, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is completely rights free, which is the reason for its constant syndication.  When I started this project, I listed out all of the scenes I was adamant had to be included, my favourite being the run on the bank, and Elliot’s being the overly dramatic statement about Mary’s fate in the alternate universe, “She’s about to close up the library!”.  But ultimately, I wanted not only to parody a Christmas classic which is a staple for many families. I wanted to capture a little bit of that magic which makes this film a classic.  Who can honestly say they have never once teared up at the toast to “The richest man in town!”, or the final words from Clarence that “No man is a failure who has friends”? “It’s a Wonderful Life” gives us a glance of a world where we can make a difference through simple acts of kindness. Through a strong adherence to the principles that every person has worth despite their bank balance. And that a strong community is the most important achievement we can aspire to, because they will always be grateful that you are a part of their lives.  “One man’s life touches so many. When he’s gone he leaves an awful hole”. How true those words are. We certainly owe a lot to Shakespeare, and I hope this show is a fitting tribute to just how much he means to us.  Even if the actor is doing a Jimmy Stewart impersonation.

by Charlotte Groombridge The CSF Winter Comedy might feel like an annual tradition, but it took four years before we staged our very first production.  The year was 2018, and two bright eyed theatre enthusiasts had just stepped into the roles of Artistic and Managing Directors. At first we were simply focused on continuing the same format as the previous four years of CSF, until we were emailed a proposal.  Did we want to throw together a show to be performed at the Canterbury Christmas Market? As with most proposals, Charlotte jumped at the chance, leaving Elliot to work out how we were going to cast and rehearse an entire show in only two weeks. Not to mention costumes, props, set… Not to undersell it, but our very first Winter Comedy, “A Winter’s Tale” came together by the skin of its teeth. Only two days before our performance, we spent an entire evening rehearsing with a puppet (the ingenious solution to our actor shortage, which we quickly realised didn’t work). However, with the talent of our cast, some slight begging, and a determination not to let our very first show fail, we managed to create a perfectly decent comedy.  Even if we were struggling to be heard over the busy Christmas market .   We learnt a lot that first year. Like how difficult it is to rehearse a show in only two weeks. And how maybe you should think about logistics before blindly accepting opportunities emailed out of the blue.  Actually, maybe we haven’t learnt that lesson all too well (looking at you, Armenia trip). But the most important lesson was this: there was an appetite for Shakespearean humour in the depths of winter.  The next year was in some ways easier, and in others more complicated. This time we had months of build up, with plenty of time and enough actors to craft a truly funny show. We also decided that more of Kent needed to witness our hilarious antics, and a mini tour was planned. Over the years this has included Wingham, Whitstable, Faversham, and Folkestone.  There are only three rules that the winter comedy must adhere to: it must always be family friendly, always be funny, and always be free.  The last rule is the most important for me. Christmas can be a difficult time for those who can’t afford to engage with the “expected traditions”, and so it’s important there are activities available which are both free and fun for the whole family.  Over the years the winter comedy has changed significantly as we constantly refine our jokes and ideas. In 2024 we moved away from the Shakespearean pantomime model, and instead we now stage self written pieces which keep with the festive Bard theme (call out to any aspiring writers out there!).  The winter comedy was always an experiment. A risk. But it’s one which has paid off tenfold thanks to the tireless work of those who believe in it.  That being said, I would like to thank the following people for the past seven years of success: our incredible set designer Gareth Winters, our wonderful actors, the generosity of the Anchor at Wingham. And to you, if you have ever attended, donated, or encouraged people to attend, THANK YOU! And don’t forget. Tickets for this year’s winter comedy are available to book now - www.ticketsource.co.uk/canterbury-shakespeare-festival   Our Winter Comedies (In order of performance) A Winter’s Tale  The Comedy of Errors Love’s Labour’s Lost Much Ado About Nothing The Taming of the Crew Tis Wonderful, This Life

written by Elliot D Huxtable After an excellent night’s sleep at the Diamond Hotel (free slippers every day!) and an excessively detailed breakfast (five small plates of food each), we headed to the Yerevan State University. It was a bit of a trek, with our taxi dropping us off on the other side of the university, but thanks to my rather underutilised orienteering skills, (and a shortcut directly through the library) we made it just in time to catch Professor Anush Sedrakyan’s welcoming remarks. The first speech, by Professor Sedrakyan, focused on the changes between tyranny in Antique times to that of Modernity. It was a fascinating insight into how Shakespeare views the tyrants of the past (e.g. Caesar or Titus Andronicus) as opposed to his more modern tyrants (such as Claudius). This was followed by Dr. Vahe Arsenyan’s piece on the depiction of Shakespeare’s tyrants on screen, with a focus on Kurosawa’s film Ran, which is a retelling of King Lear set in Feudal Japan. Well worth a watch!  We had a short coffee break (Armenian coffee is incredibly strong, and second only, in my view, to the Italian) coupled with some excellent local pastries, before our second round of talks for the day. This was a panel discussion on the “Invention of the Human” with each lecturer talking about a different facet of human development. Dr. Amalya Soghomonyan began by talking about the corruption of power, followed by Dr. Natalie Gonchar-Khanjyan rather fascinating exploration of the effects of the plague on Shakespeare’s writings (and how recent events give us an insight into this…) before Lucille Janinyan’s finale on Artificial Intelligence - which compared some Shakspeare quotes to AI versions of the same quotes (naturally we got them all correct!).  In the afternoon, we went on a countryside sightseeing tour, taking in two beautiful monasteries deep in the Armenian hills. The first, Khor Virap, is a hilltop monastery that was the home (see: prison) of the intriguing Armenian figure, Gregory the Illuminator (he who first converted the Armenians to Christianity). The second, Noravank, is hidden away deep in a gorge, and what struck me here was the complete silence. If one stopped to listen, there was nothing to hear - a very peculiar sensation. There was no traffic, no wind, no birdsong, nothing. It is also the home of some fantastically preserved Armenian cross-stones (khachkar). Thoroughly exhausted by this point, we were in no fit state to take a tour of the Areni winery, but not so tired to turn down a wine tasting! The white wine was the best, but the rose was more interesting - it is the only barrel aged rose in the world (or so they say) and the problem of ageing rose in a barrel had been solved by a ten year old who wrote in, and now was their main advisor (he’s in his twenties now). Finally, we finished off the day with a beautiful traditional Armenian dinner at the Dalan art gallery (which is also a restaurant, a bizarre experience). The food is not dissimilar to barbeque and salads but the fish and meat were not burned beyond belief, and the salads were lively and creative, and came with plenty of lavash bread - delicious!

written by Elliot D Huxtable As you might have read from our (many) social media posts and stories (thank you Charlotte), we were recently invited to take part in the biennial Armenian Shakespeare Conference in Yerevan. Although we pondered how far down the list of invitees they got before they hit us (maybe the RSC, Globe and NT all said no), we were very pleased to be invited, if a little apprehensive. We aren’t academics, and neither Charlotte nor myself have ever taken part in a conference before, let alone been to Armenia. However, we needn’t have worried. The Armenian Shakespeare Conference took brilliant care of us, and the country of Armenia is beautiful, friendly and importantly, cheap. After two excessively long flights, changing at 2am in Cyprus (and getting intimately acquainted with their tiny airport), we arrived over the rolling hills of Armenia early on Thursday morning. Getting off the plane, a queue of people were milling about to take their photo in front of Mt. Ararat, the Biblical landing place of Noah’s Ark, only 29 km away. Although a frequent, and proud, symbol of Armenian culture, Mt. Ararat technically belongs to Turkey, and our host told us that, sadly, Turkey is demanding the Armenians remove depictions of the mountain from any logo, symbol or picture that contains it. After checking into our hotel (and a short nap), we arrived at the opening day of the Conference at the American University of Armenia. Unfortunately we had missed the first few talks, but arrived just in time to hear the keynote speaker, Professor Harry Keishian from the US, who had a very professionally presented discussion on the divine right of kings and how tyrants don't recognise the responsibility of their power. This was followed by Dr. Anush Aslibekyan, a theatre critic with a piece about productions of Hamlet in Yerevan that reflected the politics of the times. Finally, Dr. Ara Yernjakyan, the Founder and Director of Yerevan Chamber Theatre spoke about Horatio, and his theatrical origins as a character. As many of us were tired and jet-lagged, the sightseeing of the afternoon was curtailed and instead we took (another) nap at the hotel. However, in the evening we headed to the Yerevan Chamber Theatre to see their long-running production of Romeo & Juliet. I was nervous, as R&J is not one of my favourites (heresy, I know) but this was one of the most imaginative and brilliant stagings I’ve seen in a long, long time.  This production reframed the drama from Friar Lawrence’s point of view - he spoke the Prologue, and was a near-constant presence on stage. They also re-ordered the play, with the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio happening almost as if in flashback, which was the same with the final scenes. The finale began with the arrival of the Prince after their deaths “The people in the street cry Romeo, Some Juliet, and some Paris; and all run, With open outcry toward our monument.”, and then, when normally one would hear Friar Lawrence describe the play that we’ve all just sat through, they then showed us the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, which was an emotive method of concluding their story. Lawrence ended the play by hanging himself, which was also effective. A post-show Q&A with Lusine Yernjakyan (the director) as well as the cast of the production (including the excellent Senik Barseghyan whose Lawrence grounded the entire production) gave us an insight into the creative process as well as the trials of staging the same play (albeit periodically) since 2017!   Finally, a piece of theatrical brilliance that I will one day steal - four actors stretched a piece of green cloth across the stage, ensuring it was taut. With two small sponge balls, and two pool cues, they created a very effective game of snooker during an early scene (Romeo’s dalliances with the fair Rosalind). .   #theatre #performance

written by Charlotte Groombridge If you read the title of this piece and your first thought was “Wasn’t it Shakespeare?”, then congratulations. You are capable of a level of critical thinking which often escapes the anti-Stratfordians.  You may be forgiven for believing the ‘Anti-Stratfordian Movement’ (the name adopted by those who believe William Shakespeare was not the man who wrote Shakespeare’s great literary canon) has been around for centuries. Considering how loud and downright arrogant these claims can be, the idea of questioning Shakespeare’s authorship is actually relatively new, coming about in the 19th century and hanging around like a bad smell.  I’ll admit, this is a volatile start to my humble blog post, but sifting through anti-Stratfordian arguments has a tendency to raise my blood pressure. And it’s not because the arguments are based on cognitive fallacies which fly far too close to conspiracy theories for my liking. No, it’s because the acceptance of these beliefs allow another, far more dangerous and insidious belief system to come to the fore.  Intellectual snobbery.  The main bastion of the anti-Stratfordian movement is this: Shakespeare was a lowly commoner without the education, the aristocratic breeding, or the familiarity of court life which would make him capable of writing such masterpieces.  It sounds like an airtight argument if you ignore two compelling pieces of evidence. Firstly, it is widely accepted that Shakespeare attended his local grammar school. You know, that place where they teach you to read and write, where you learn about history and literature, where one could easily absorb all of the information necessary to knock out a half decent piece of writing.   Secondly, are anti-Stratfordians stating that good writing belongs solely to the upper echelons of society?  I am here to propose another, far more believable argument. Good art, truly good art, is more likely to spring from those who suffer and struggle. From those who know what it’s like to go without, to live in fear, to experience pain and oppression. And does that sound like the ruling class to you? Take a moment to think about your favourite piece of art, be it a play, book, film, or painting. You’ll have your reasons as to why you think it’s the best, the wonderful thing about art is its subjective nature. But I can guarantee one thing about your choice is true. This work speaks to an element of human nature.   Shakespeare understood people. In my mind, no other writer comes close to his in-depth investigations of human psychology, and that’s what makes his work timeless. It’s why we are willing to sit through 3 hour productions of Hamlet or King Lear. He elicits emotions within us because he understands us. And one does not garner that type of understanding through observing humanity from afar. Only through being an active member of society who is working, and struggling, and suffering can one truly see what it is to be human.  Anti-Stratfordians put forward alternative writers such as Sir Francis Bacon, or the Earl of Oxford. You might as well suggest only Jacob Rees-Mogg, or Boris Johnson could write stories that modern audiences would connect with.  The upper classes are disconnected from normal life. The messy, complicated normal life which is reflected in Shakespeare’s plays. And suggestions that Marlowe is the real author… Well, a comparison of their work side by side should put that argument to bed.  So, why do anti-Stratfordian theories rile me up so much? Because it is spearheaded by elitist propagandists who are trying to rob the lower classes of agency, of intellect, implying that they are both incapable of creating great work or shaping the culture of a country.  Any anti-Strafordian can’t deny that ultimately they are snobs, or they’d be lying to themselves. They have no basis for an argument, they simply want to rob Shakespeare of credit so that they can attribute his masterpieces to their own out of touch elite social class without doing any work to actually enrich this country's cultural landscape.  Which is very on brand for the upper classes.  So, yes, the anti-Stratfordian theories do make my blood boil. And honestly, I hope you feel as angry as I do.

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