Shapeshifter and Berwick Productions Present
King Arthur

By Keith Dewhurst

Arcola Theatre

8th November - 9th December 2006

Directors: John Terry & Mike Bartlett. Set designer: Alex Marker. Costume Designer: Nell Knudsen, Lighting Designer: Richard Williamson. Movement Director: Kitty Winter. Fight Director: Haruka Kuroda. Original Music: Sarah Llewellyn

Starring:
Francis Kennedy, Robin Samson, Shelley Islam, Ann Firbank, Matt Jamie, Alice Barclay, Susie Emmett, Marc Baylis, Sidney Smith and David Brett

Press
'Shapeshifter's 'King Arthur' is grounded in a post-Roman Britain which is more sackcloth-and-scuffling than sword and sorcery. But it Merits ten out of ten for atmosphere, promenading the audience though Artorius' war camp, to rub shoulders with soldiers, and peek out though cow byre slats at the yammering barbarians.'
'It's an imaginative use of the Arcola's cavernous space, and the trestles, the tunics and the talk of Vortegern all thicken the ambience.'
Caroline McGin - Time Out

'The clever and careful use of lighting designed by Richard Williamson and set designed by Alex Marker allows the audience to become lost in the story almost to the point of disorientation in terms of setting.'
Fiona Doyle - EXTRA! EXTRA!

'The space is exploited well in this promenade piece and the audience's presence is cleverly manipulated to add a sense of crowd mass to any scene.'
Evelyn Curlet - The Stage

'King Arthur is staged as a promenade piece - a device which actually works very well. The Arcola stage, divided by rags and driftwood, successfully takes us away from the romantic visions of Camelot, whilst its low ceiling intensifies the idea of a cramped Britain barely able to contain such flux.'
Belinda Williams - Rogues and Vagabonds
1:50 scale model views of the Arcola space.
Cladius at the Colussieum
The audience promenade into into \Baden
The gates to the Briton's camp at Baden
The camp
Life in the camp
The insult thrower
The Barbarians
Merlin in Artorius' dream

Rather than a straight re-telling of the Arthurian myth, this play - written by National Theatre playwright Keith Dewhurst and commissioned especially for Shapeshifter - focused on the possible roots of what would evolve into our stories and ideas of Arthur. The curtain-raiser is a Roman gladiatorial contest, which I set in a small section of what would reveal itself to be the massive space of the Arcola. Merlin then takes the audience on a journey through the back wall of the arena - two large wooden stockade gates through which the audience pass - and forward in time to the smoky encampment of Mount Baden, where Artorius, riven with self doubt and surrounded by barbarian hoards, is trying to find a way to turn the situation to his advantage and win a decisive victory with a rag tag army of peasants and mercenaries.

The gates close, giving the sense that the whole audience were trapped in the camp with Artorius and his men awaiting the signal for battle to begin. Merlin comes and goes, tantalising the uncomprehending general with riddles and fragmentary visions from the future of what he might come to represent.

Last updated: 21 May, 2007