We hope to hold a number revels each year – but the Winter Revels are the most important.

Our inaugural revels season is a series of live play readings, recording for the podcast full cast audio adaptations of five plays – well, four plays and one adaptation of a book. Content warnings are at the bottom of this page.

12th to 16th December – The Beyond Winter Revels 2023

A Season of Tragedy, History, True Crime, Literature, Comedy – live recording sessions for the podcast at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington, London.

Welcome to the Beyond Winter Revels, a celebration selection box of shows from our repertoire. From Marlowe’s famous tragedy of Dido, through famous historical characters in Cleopatra, via true crime in Arden of Faversham and a gothic proto-horror story in Beware the Cat, to the chaotic comedy of a story that comes to life in Old Wives’ Tale – we’ve a show for you. You can sample one play or, for a discount price, catch them all! Live play readings, recording for the Beyond Shakespeare podcast, for one week only.

Performing 12^th to 16^th December 2023 at The White Bear Theatre, Kennington.

When planning your visit, remember the White Bear gives theatergoers 10% off food by simply showing their ticket or digital confirmation! Enjoy pre & post-show drinks in the stylish White Bear bar and garden.

The revels company 2023 include Pamela Flanagan, Lynsey Beauchamp, Sarah Blake, Keith Hill, Karim Kronfli, Alex Kapila, Kit McGuire, Sojourner Hazelwood-Connell, Alexandra Kataigida, Emma Kemp, Liza Graham, Valentina Vinci, Simon Nader, Roel Fox, Blioux Kirkby

Tuesday 12th December – Dido, Queen of Carthage by Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe

A tragedy of a doomed love affair between Aeneas, survivor of the Trojan war, and the Queen of Carthage.

Wednesday 13th December – Cleopatra by Samuel Daniel

A history play, covering the last days of the Queen of Egypt.

Written as a follow up to his patrons translation of The Tragedy of Antony, Samuel Daniel’s play is a mix of storytelling and drama.

Thursday 14th December – Arden of Faversham by the Unknown

A true crime thriller. Thomas Arden’s wife wants him dead, and pulls in a succession of accomplices to arrange the deed. The plans keep going wrong. Until they don’t.

Friday 15th December – Beware the Cat by William Baldwin

A Gothic horror story of talking cats. A young man tells how he learnt to understand the secret of the language of cats. When he hears what they say, he discovers that cat kind are organised and coming for you.

Saturday 16th December – The Old Wives’ Tale by George Peele

A shaggy dog story for a winter’s night. Three lost youths stumble across a cottage in a forest, where an Old Wife tells an Old Wives’ tale. The story comes to life before their eyes, and gets… a little muddled in the telling.

The Venue: The White Bear Theatre, 138 Kennington Park Rd, London SE11 4DJ

Cuts/adaptation: We are performing these texts as completely as possible, though there are a few minor edits to the more explicitly problematic material. Audiences should expect us not to shy away from presenting the themes of the playwrights as written, even if we don’t always agree with them. Some of these issues will be flagged up in the show introductions or other materials. Beware the Cat, being based on a novel, has minor changes for clarity, and some cuts of sections which work better as a book and less so in performance. The Old Wives’ Tale is the only show which will have additions due to the visual nature of the play, which we will not be able to do justice to. Additional narration has been included for clarity.

Content Warnings: We are still building these as we explore the texts in prep for the season.

General Warning – Dido, Cleopatra and Arden feature death, specifically suicide, often discussed at length and also depicted. Dido and Cleopatra demonstrate, in various ways, early modern attitudes to race – specifically in a white = good, black = bad beauty standard – and in depicting ‘other’ cultures as exotic. Arden is about a murder, and acts of violence are portrayed throughout. Beware the Cat features many incidents of animal cruelty and death – it is also explicitly anti-Catholic propaganda – complicated by the wry comedic tone of the text – we have cut down the longer sections of the anti-Catholic text, but elements will remain. The Old Wives’ Tale is a comedy, but features references that are problematic – again specifically in the tradition of a beauty standard weighted towards whiteness. More specific CW’s to follow