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Rapture Theatre Company in association with Greenwich Theatre in London present a new and exciting production of:
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
"Making good use of a stark setting to contrast nicely with the many colourful characters and well-known, poetic speeches, Rapture Theatre’s production of Hamlet is all about showcasing the company’s talent. Fortunately for all, there is an abundance of it. "
The Stage
Rapture Theatre are touring an innovative new production of Shakespeare’s great tragedy.
Rapture, one of Scotland’s most exciting theatre companies, will be presenting a special Celtic take on this legendary play.
Read the full "Stage" review at
Set in the contemporary Glasgow underworld, Rapture’s production will combine Shakespeare’s text with a modern take on this powerful classic.
Hamlet is caught between the idealistic world of his university and the world of terror and death that his criminal family represent. When his father dies and his ghost confronts him, Hamlet has to choose between family lies and world truths, the past and the future, life and death.
Audience Response
" A wonderful performance. I have sen Hamlet a few times before ( with Jude Law) yet this contemporary version is the first Hamlet I have understood and I never dozed off once !!!!"
" A most enjoyable production.Think it may not appeal to the purists. It worked for me ( 75 years old). Diction excellent and I could hear every word".
"What a performance, our 13 year old was enthralled as us ! Well done!!"
"The Scots lilt gave extra power to the great speeches"
Hamlet, the original young rebel, is a story that will reach across the generations.
Modern music, innovative iconography and faithfulness to this great play, will make Rapture’s production an unmissable event for fans of the bard from 12 years old to 102 years old
Rapture has previously toured major plays by Arthur Miller, David Mamet, Joe Penhall and Neil Simon.
Rapture will be organising workshops and post show discussions alongside the show.
The production is supported by Glasgow Association of Mental Health, Scottish Community Foundation, Awards for All, National Lottery, The Robertson Trust, South Lanarkshire Council, East Renfrewshire Council, Stirling Council, The Hugh Fraser Foundation, Tay Charitable Trust and Kidd Property Developers
Tour dates:
Greenwich Theatre
Thursday 4th February – Saturday 13th February
@ 7:30pm Monday – Saturday
@ 2:30pm 6th, 10th, 11th and 13th (No performance Sunday and Tuesday)
Tickets £15-£8
Box Office 0208 858 7755
www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk
The Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock
Thursday 18th February @ 2.30pm and 7.30pm
£8.50, £7.00 conc
01563 554900
www.visiteastayrshire.com
Eastwood Park Theatre, Rouken Glen Road, Giffnock, Glasgow
Saturday 20 February @ 7.30pm
Ticket Prices Standard £10 / Concession £8 / Student £5
Box Office Number 0141 577 4970
Buxton Opera House
Monday 22 February @ 7.30pm
Tickets: £14
Discounts available
Box Office: 0845 127 2190
www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk
Arts Guild Theatre, Campbell Street, Greenock
Thursday 25th February @ 7.30 p.m.
Ticket Prices £12.00 (£10.00 Conc.) & £8.00 school groups
Box Office Number 01475 723038
www.artsguildthaetre.co.uk
The Tolbooth Theatre
Jaily Wynd, Stirling
Friday 26th Febuary @ 7;30pm
Ticket Price £10/£8
Box Office 01786 274000
www.stiring.gov.uk/toooth
The Byre Theatre of St Andrews, Abbey St, St Andrews
Saturday 27th February @ 7.30pm
Ticket Prices £14 (£12/£10)
Box Office Number 01334 475 000
www.byretheatre.com
The Lemon Tree, 5 West North Street, Aberdeen
Mon 1 – Wed 3 March @ 7pm
Ticket Prices £8 + 10% booking fee
Box Office Number 01224 641122
www.boxofficeaberdeen.com
Carnegie Hall, East Port, Dunfermline.
4th March @ 7.30pm
Ticket Prices : £10 Conc £8 Schools Ticket £6
Box Office Number : 01383 602603
www.Attfife.org.uk
Paisley Arts Centre, New Street, Paisley
Friday 5th March @: 7.30pm
Ticket Prices £10/£6
Box Office Number 0141 887 1010
www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/onlinebooking
GilmorehillG12, 9 University Avenue, Glasgow,
Saturday 6th March @ 7.30pm
Ticket Prices - £10/£6
Box Office Number – 0141 330 5522
Brunton Theatre Ladywell Way Musselburgh
Date 10 March @ 1.30 & 7.30pm
Ticket Prices £10.50 (£8.50) £6 under 18s
Box Office Number 0131 665 2240
Eastgate Theatre, Eastgate, Peebles
Friday 12th March @ 1930
Ticket Prices £10 (no concessions)
Box Office Number 01721 725777
www.eastgatearts.com
FTH Falkirk, West Bridge Street, Falkirk
Saturday 13th March @ 7:30pm
£10/£9
Box Office: 01324 506850
Howden Park Centre, Livingston
@ 7.30pm
Wednesday 17 March
Ticket Prices: £12 or £9 concession
Box Office Number: 01506 777666
www.howdenparkcentre.co.uk
Cast and Creative Team
Hamlet
Grant O’Rourke
Grant trained at the RSAMD. Theatre work includes The Slab Boys Trilogy [Traverse], Into The Dark [Visible Fictions], The Memorandum [Communicado], Hermiston [Rowan Tree], Flours O’ Edinburgh, The Philadelphia Story, Taking Sides, Wild Honey, Arcadia, Habeas Corpus and Outlying Islands [PFT], After Mary Rose [Magnetic North], Richard III, Taming of the Shrew [Bard in the Botanics] and Othello [Citizens]. TV/Film credits include Crying With Laughter, Taggart, Still Game, Feel the Force, High Times, How Not To Live Your Life, Around Scotland, See You See Me. He has appeared in numerous plays and readings on radio 4, among others; Look Back In Anger, Almost Blue, The Voyage of The Demeter, Raven Black and several Woman’s Hour serials.
(Photo to Come)
Old Hamlet/ Osric/Gravedigger
Dave Anderson
Dave Anderson has been Gregory’s dad in “Gregory’s Girl”, Tom Conti and Helen Mirren’s Headmaster in “Heavenly Pursuits”, Charlie Sheen’s sparring partner in “Obit” amongst many other films.
He was the bank manager in BBC’s “City Lights”, various cops, suspects and “red herrings” in “Taggart” over the years, a French Diplomat and a cowboy on “Rab C. Nesbit”, and many other characters on TV.
His songs for “The Steamie” are being performed, somewhere, right now. His musical, “Tir na nOg”, won “Best New Musical” award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2007, and he continues to write musical shows, and to present his cabaret of songs and story.
In a long and varied career, this is his first Shakespeare!
Ophelia / Gravedigger Emily Jane Boyle
Theatre: Matthew Bourne’s Dorian Gray (Sadlers Wells/European Tour); Imagine This (New London); Faith Crombie in Noel Coward’s I’ll Leave It To You (Pentameters); Rosie in Cabaret (Lyric), where she was also Assistant Choreographer; Morag Sinclair in Tunes of Glory (Middle Ground Theatre); The Likes of Us (Sydmonton Festival); On The Town (London Coliseum); The Seven Deadly Sins and Petrushka (Opera North); Night 1000 Voices:A Tribute to Trevor Nunn (Royal Albert Hall)
Television: Mari in Cracked (Scottish Television); Young Judy Garland in Death by Excess (Sky 1); A Tongue in yer Heid (BBC Scotland); T In The Park (BBC campaign); Commercials for Kit Kat, Radox, Ebay and Doritos
Radio/Recordings: The Verb, Finders Keepers (BBC Radio 2);
Original Cast Recordings of Imagine This and The Likes of Us
( Photo to Come)
Barnardo /Laertes/ Rosencrantz
Ali Craig
Ali trained at Mountview Academy of Performing Art.
Theatre works include: Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland), Rocky Horror Show (European Tour), Waterproof (Oran Mor), College performances of Closer, A Slight Ache.
Television works include: Monarch of the Glen (BBC), Sea of Souls (BBC), Black Watch (BBC), A Soldiers Story (BBC)
Radio works include: Black Watch (BBC Radio 3)
Film works include: The Good Times Are Killing Me (Shaftsbury Films), Pelican Blood (Ecosse Films/Icon Entertainment)
Gertrude Valerie Gogan
Valerie Gogan has worked extensively in the theatre, playing leading roles at the National, RSC and in the West End and Repertory. Highlights include Nora in Ibsen's 'A Doll's House', Hermoine/Perdita in 'The Winter's Tale', Emilie in 'Les Liasions Dangereuses', and Lucile in 'The Rehearsal'. New plays include Charlotte Jones's hit 'In Flame' and most recently the UK premiere of Jon Fosse’s “Warm” and at Hampstead Theatre 'The Water When It Burns'. A distinguished TV career includes playing Alex, one of the two female leads in the popular BBC series, 'Hamish MacBeth', and Emily in BBC's 'David Copperfield'. Feature films include 'Dangerous Liasions', 'One More Kiss', and 'As You Like It'. Valerie will soon be seen in award-winning director Tinge Krishnan's debut feature 'Honey and Razorblades', and Sam Moon's 'Animal'. She also recently narrated Val McDairmid's, latest crime novel 'A Darker Domain', for Harper Collins.
Horatio Donald Munro
A founder member of Fizzgig & Grubb Theatre Company, who specialise in dinner theatre and site specific indoor and outdoor events, shows have included:
Babes in the Wood Panto, The Woman who Cooked Her Husband, Chekhov’s The Proposal & The Bear, Nightmare with Clocks, The Problem, The Canterbury Ghost.
With Goodnight Out Theatre Company – appeared in Memory of Water and Twelfth Night.
With TheatreFusion: The Office Party, Blue Remembered Hills, 12 Angry Men, Baby & the Bathwater.
At Edinburgh Festival Fringe, various productions including: Loot, Backstage at the Pussy Kat Club, Live Bed Show.
(Photo to Come)
Polonius /Marcellus/Doctor
Alan Steele
Trained at RSAMD, Alan has worked extensively in theatre throughout the UK. Productions include Macbeth, Art and Kidnapped (Mull Theatre) , Dracula (Courtyard Hereford) , Confessions Of A Justified Sinner (Rowan Tree) , A Taste Of Honey and The Crucible ( Tag/ NTS) , Taking Sides, Good Things, Whisky Galore and The Life Of Stuff (Pitlochry Festival Theatre) and The Emperors New Kilt (Wee Stories/NTS) .
Television appearances include Taggart -of course ! (STV) and How Not To Live Your Life , The Sword And The Cross and The Age Of Enlightenment (BBC) .
Radio includes Confessions Of A Justified Sinner (BBC Radio 4) .
Claudius/ Francisco David Tarkenter
This is a return to Rapture for David after appearing in “Betrayal” at St. Andrews in 2008.
His other theatre credits include: Treasure Island for Northern broadsides, two summer seasons and a spring season at Theatre by the Lake , Keswick where he appeared in The Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Frozen, The Birthday Party among others. He has performed in over a dozen plays at The Mercury Theatre in Colchester including Two, Twelfth Night, Of Mice and Men, Coriolanus, Lonesome West and Dick Whittington to name a few.
There have also been numerous shows for NTC Touring, several for Cleveland Theatre Company and three pantos at The Sands Centre, Carlisle.
Tv Inc: Harry, Heartbeat, Rebus and Byker Gove
Player King
Mike Tibbetts
“Hamlet” is Mike’s thirteenth production with Rapture Theatre. Previous work with Rapture has included the title role in “Richard III”, Malvolio in “Twelfth Night” and roles in plays by David Mamet, Sam Shepard and Harold Pinter. Other recent roles has included Creon in Anouilh’s “Antigone” at the Ramshorn Theatre in Glasgow. Previously Mike has worked with a number of companies across Scotland and the North of England. Mike is also an award-winning playwright, with a number of plays in publication.
Check out what people have been saying:
"The realisation of the opening scenes are simply magical - quite possibly the cleverest piece of theatrical trickery I've seen since the 'pool table' moment in "Black Watch". "
A View from the Stalls
"The minimal setting- Dominated by an impressive screen printed montage of Glasgow buildings ---adds to the brooding atmosphere….its gripping stuff"
David Craig News of the World **** Four Stars
"Grant O'Rourke as a hugely promising Hamlet, … rises to the challenge of the great soliloquies."
Joyce McMillan The Scotsman
"David Tarkenter as Claudius gave a performance of depth, …. his powerful delivery of the chapel soliloquy that most clearly showed his guilt as the dark mirror of Hamlet's grief."
Neil McEwan Edinburgh Evening News **** Four Stars
"Emily Jane Boyle in particular is magnificent as the tragic Ophelia."
Catherine Usher -- The Stage
"Alan Steele was excellent as Polonius"
Neil McEwan Edinburgh Evening News **** Four Stars
"As well as the magnificently stylish opening scenes, director Michael Emans has other ingenious set pieces up his sleeve"
A View from the Stalls
"At the end I found tears pricking my eyes,…… fascinating production of such an infinitely familiar play"
Joyce McMillan The Scotsman
"Rapture Theatre’s production of Hamlet is all about showcasing the company’s talent. Fortunately for all, there is an abundance of it."
Catherine Usher -- The Stage
But never mind the critics.....here is what the audience have been saying:
“ I thought it was one of the best productions I’ve seen……one of the best Hamlet’s I’ve seen in years. Claudius and Polonius were excellent, with Polonius in particular, really making the part his own”
Marion Watson , 66, retired, Meadowbank
“This is my first Shakespeare and I was unsure whether I’d enjoy a three hour production in 400 year old language, but I was surprised and really pleased as well. The plot was easy to follow…. I’ve always been a little afraid of Shakespeare, but having seen this show I can see how approachable he is “
Karolyn Duncanson , 14, student, Leith
See the show at
Eastgate Theatre, Eastgate, Peebles
Friday 12th March @ 1930
Ticket Prices £10 (no concessions)
Box Office Number 01721 725777
www.eastgatearts.com
FTH Falkirk, West Bridge Street, Falkirk
Saturday 13th March @ 7:30pm
£10/£9
Box Office: 01324 506850
Howden Park Centre, Livingston
@ 7.30pm
Wednesday 17 March
Ticket Prices: £12 or £9 concession
Box Office Number: 01506 777666
www.howdenparkcentre.co. |
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