UK: THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY PERFORMS "TANTULUS" - TEN HOUR CYCLE OF PLAYS ABOUT THE TROJAN WARS AT SALFORD'S NEW "LOWRY " ARTS CENTRE

Record ID: 390922

  • Title: UK: THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY PERFORMS "TANTULUS" - TEN HOUR CYCLE OF PLAYS ABOUT THE TROJAN WARS AT SALFORD'S NEW "LOWRY " ARTS CENTRE
  • Date: 2nd February 2001
  • Summary: SALFORD, MANCHESTER, UK (FEBRUARY 3, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) ADRIAN NOBLE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY, SAYING, "It's a most extraordinary feeling because I first encountered this material twenty years ago, and during that time, mostly one felt it's never ever going to happen, and to be sitting here in Salford today, not onl
  • Embargoed: 17th February 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SALFORD, MANCHESTER, UK AND VARIOUS
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA4BACZZ7U5YBJ0H4LAZ9QJ0YAE
  • Story Text: Tantalus is a play of truly epic proportions, almost two decades in the making, nine hours long, and based on the vents leading up to, during and after the Trojan wars. The joint venture between the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts took American audiences by storm, and is now touring the UK.
    With 20 years of nurturing, eight months of rehearsing and £8 million behind it, the theatrical marathon to end them all has arrived. At the Lowry in Salford, Tantalus - John Barton's cycle of new plays about the Trojan War, as condensed and directed by Sir Peter Hall - began a UK tour that concludes at the Barbican in May.
    The project would never have been realised if it hadn't been for the philanthropic contribution of the massive finances required by Donald Seawell, founder of the Denver Centre for the Performing Arts which gave the play its first public airing.
    Performed in masks, with each actor in the Anglo-Amican cast playing several roles, the set of nine plays is sometimes performed in sets of three over three evening, sometimes all in one go - appropriately known as a Marathon performance.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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