#deborah warner

Her Hedda felt uncomfortable, nervous, constantly on the edge of a psychiatric breakdown. At times haughty. Multifaceted. The Act 1 prequel scene is so intense you almost want to retch. What Shaw does with the props is incredibly effective. You end up sympathizing with her. The production really threw me a curveball. Surprisingly, she’s not one of the postmodern Jackson-Heddas. She's more Hamlet-like.

... But wtf happened in the scene where she burns the manuscript? I don't know if I loved it or hated it. Somehow it made sense. And wtf was Tesman doing when he found out she’d burned it? That moment didn’t work for me. It was a logical failure.

King John, RSC, The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1988, directed by Deborah Warner

My chapter begins with a survey of the Press’ response to Fiona Shaw’s playing the king in Deborah Warner’s 1995 production of Richard II. Shaw’s performance was met with general howls of derision, it was, according to the critic at The Independent, ‘Gimmick casting … the sort of thing you might expect to see at the end of term in a boarding school’.  However, I argue that the British theatre practice of re-gendering Shakespeare entered contemporary performance history with Shaw’s King Richard. 

Makes III.1 even more devastating and heartbreaking of course, but hey...

(Other actors in this production include Lucian Msamati as Friar Lawrence, Deborah Warner as the Nurse, TAMSIN FRICKING GREIG as Lady Capulet (who now has most of Capulet’s lines too). V v recommended all round.)

If you have not read Demon Under Glass but like The Vampire Chronicles, and similar stories, I urge you to check it out.   I feel terrible.  I was in the middle of reading a book she wanted me to review.   She always found use for me as a writer and called upon me to remind me that I AM a writer and that what I made was appreciated and wanted.   I will miss her greatly.  I just wish I had the opportunity to visit her in person.     

Footfalls by Samuel Beckett

Deborah Warner

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Lesbian

DOB: 12 May 1959

Ethnicity: White

Occupation: Theatre director, director

Fiona Shaw and Deborah Warner, 2014 (x)