Equivocation

Equivocation is a coproduction with The Richland Players.

 

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Click the image below for the Richland Players Box Office page.

(Pictured: Robert Chisholm; Derik Radcliffe, Robert Chisholm, and Travis Franks; Joan Kathren; J. Spyder Isaacson. Photos by Bret Parker.)

About the Play

Director’s Note:

It’s not often that I read a script that I’m truly scared by. Sure, there are mysteries for the stage that contain suspense but none of them have given me that dreaded feeling like this one did in parts.  It’s also a love story, which is maybe one of the weirder combinations I’ve directed before.  It has been a unique and fun challenge working with the cast to tell this story – to highlight not only the very real potential danger inherent in the workings of the crown at the time but also the stories of real people in history navigating a test of their love and commitment to one another and their art. If you aren’t familiar with King James I, the Catholic/Protestant Influences on the British government, the gunpowder plot, or Shakespeare and his players, I believe you will still be able to connect with the themes of corrupt power and the oppression of everyman as well as a father’s complicated relationship with his children and his theater.

Whose side will you be on at the end? Only time will tell. 

Emily Sarah Richman

 

Synopsis/Background Information:

In this interview, Bill Cain describes the proximity of the Globe and the Tower as the heart of the inspiration for his 2009 play Equivocation. Cain imagines the following scene: it is England, 1606, and Shagspeare is commissioned by Robert Cecil, the Prime Minister, to write a play about the failed plot to assassinate King James 1 (also known as the Gunpowder Plot). King James wants a play – and he wants witches.  

But as Shag and the acting company of the Globe investigate, they discover the King’s version of the story might be a cover-up. Should they speak truth to power and risk losing their heads?

Equivocation takes us behind the scenes of both The Globe and The Tower – as well as into moments from the Bard’s most famous plays.

And let’s not forget Judith, Shagspeare’s mistreated daughter, who has a more practical view of these lofty notions of truth, risk, and legacy.

In short, you’ve never seen a play quite like this – join us, won’t you?

Please note that this production includes graphic depictions of violence including executions.  Please consider this when determining the age appropriateness of attendees.  We recommend ages 14 and up.

EQUIVOCATION is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com)

EQUIVOCATION was developed at TheatreWorks, Palo Alto, CA, as part of their New Works Festival and the Ojai Playwrights Conference, Robert Egan, Artistic Director. It was originally produced by Oregon Shakespeare Festival;
Bill Rauch, Artistic Director; Paul Nicholson, Executive Director. It was originally produced in New York City by
Manhattan Theatre Club, on February 10, 2010 (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer)