By William Shakespeare
“The Tempest” is a well loved story of romance and magic, which combines the elements of drama, love and comedy, so there is something for everyone to appreciate. The direction of this production has taken the text and placed it within an new and exciting setting which aims to provide an evening of fun for any audience, so even if you thought Shakespeare was old fashioned, be assured that there is nothing stuffy or boring about this production - just laughs, great drama and enjoyment for the audience.
Drawing from the influence of Peter Brook, and working from his models as outlined in his book “The Empty Space”, we set this performance within the environment of a circus ring. In the centre of the ring we see Prospero, the manipulator, acting as the circus master. We have the bestial qualities of Caliban and Ariel, acting as tame animals to Prosperos’ commands. We see the clownish antics of Trinculo and Stephano. Thrown into this bizarre world are Alonzo, Ferdinand, Gonzalo, Antonio and Sebastian, who would act as spectators and provide a nice contrast to the fabulous goings on all around them.
The masque with the appearance of three goddesses, represented by glamorous showgirls in sequin costumes, plumed head dresses and fish net tights, dancing and singing their blessings to Ferdinand and Miranda was a particularly effective theatrical device, and went down well with the audience too!

By David Mamet

Duck Variations was an experiment in what we liked to call ‘Discovery Theatre’. This play is essentially about two old men who meet at the same time each day on a park bench to feed the birds. They discuss life, philosophy and - well, ducks mainly. A comedy in the Mamet tradition, the characters of Emile and George will endear themselves to you, make you laugh, and make you think. The discovery element lay in the way in which this play was performed. The idea was to perform in various locations, parks, playgrounds, sea fronts, anywhere there happened to be a bench, in fact, and to be discovered by the audience. It the style of a buskers performance, the audience could watch a few sketches or stay and see the whole piece, . We found that most audience members decided to stay.

By William Shakespeare

This production saw us returning to the completely traditional Shakespearean comedy. Staged in full Elizabethan costume, with an large cast, and sticking to the script word for word (well, almost), The Crew of Patches joined with the local community to stage this performance. The play was written at the request of Queen Elizabeth I, as she “Wanted to see Falstaff fall in love.” The result is near farce with people being hidden in laundry baskets, donning desperate disguises, and lots of silly running around, knees bending sort of behavior (to borrow a phrase.) (It was rather typical of the show that, during one performance the professionalism of the actress playing Mistress Quickly was severely put to the test , when she had to contend with a wasp up her dress during a sword fight.) The Merry Wives of Windsor toured several venues throughout the summer including Dover and Walmer Castles, and St Augustine Abbey. This was a production we all enjoyed very much, and the audience thought it tremendous fun too!

By Robert Greenhalgh

The play is set in Britain and Rome and concerns the letters and thoughts of Augustine and Pope Gregory and is written to coincide with the 1400th anniversary of Augustine’s arrival in Britain. It details Pope Gregory’s first acquaintance, through the slave market, of the Angles; Augustine’s journey and arrival in Britain and follows his work through to his death.
Key historical and contemporary themes are drawn out including the manipulation of powerful women by Pope Gregory, Augustine’s fears and weaknesses on his journey to Britain, his concerns over relationships with women and his steadfastness in the face of opposition from established English clergy. The play concludes after Augustine’s death with the doubts of Pope Gregory over the future of the English Church.
The play is based on some of the letters of Pope Gregory as detailed in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English people. Other letters have been created to develop the plots. The main plots concern the growth of Pope Gregory’s Empire and the spiritual development of Augustine, the wisdom of Pope Gregory and inexperience of Augustine. Sub plots include sexuality and the relationship between Augustine and Bertha (Queen to Ethelbert) the fiscal mismanagement of the Bishop of Arles and early Christian attitudes to pagan beliefs.
The scenes, plots and sub plots are overlain musically with solo and choral pieces to interpret the themes and to show the passage of the church year through Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter festivals which in turn may reflect early pagan beliefs.
The Furthest Empire toured various venues in the South East of England, including St Augustines Abbey and St Mary in Castro, Dover Castle.

By William Shakespeare

The concept for this production grew out of a discussion on character. We reasoned that the characters of Oberon, Titania and Puck would have been well known figures to an Elizabethan audience, who would already be familiar with them through the medium of story telling. We tried to think of a modern equivalent of these characters - well known figures who have achieved the Status of being slightly above the human plain of existence, but below the level of gods. We came up with the idea of movie stars. In this production, therefore, the Midsummer Nights' Dream became a Hollywood Dream. The production began as a traditional Shakespearean presentation, complete with Elizabethan costume. Once the lovers entered the woods, however, the Hollywood Dream took over. A mischievous "Clockwork Orange' style Puck delighted at causing mayhem, Tirana embodied the glamour and beauty of Manor, and the mechanicals took on the slapstick knockabout style of the Keystone Cops. Almost cartoonish in its expression, the animatronic asses head stole the show. Everything returns to normal when the quarrel between the king and queen is resolved, and a return to the traditional is reflected in the return to the Elizabethan world for the end of the show. Music, magic, fantastic dance routines and an unusual both interesting concept combined to make this critically acclaimed show a brilliant night out.

By William Shakespeare

Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's best loved comedies. The story of mistaken identity, love requited and unrequited, and the comic pairing of Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek make this a real crowd pleaser.
This production, by the Crew of Patches has been adapted for six players. Although very little of the original text has been omitted, some lines have been transferred to other characters. The play is costumed in the Victorian style but its performance by a small group mirrors the typical “Crew of Patches” of Elizabethan England. Each actor portrays two different characters, for example, one actress was cast as a pair of twins, playing the roles of both Viola and Sebastian, and the rest of the cast had some pretty hectic costume changes!
Our version of this classic worked hard to emphasise the comic potential of the script, and judging by the audience reaction we relieved, we certainly achieved this. Roy Jacob as Malvolio, complete with dreadfully fitting toupee and an air of permanently injured dignity was particularly memorable.
Twelfth Night played to packed houses throughout the summer run.