#Cheek by Jowl

[lovetgr76]

When worlds collide... Succession's Matthew McFadyen and Slow Horses' Saskia Reeves!!

On stage in the Cheek by Jowl Theater Company's production of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Playhouse Theater.

[its-shakespeare-baby]

So I’ve been watching Cheek by Jowl’s production of The Winter’s Tale and taking notes, and there are two that I’m really proud of/things I think are interesting about this production/parts of the general play that I find interesting:

“Leontes is literally crazy now. And when a king is crazy, it’s dangerous. Everyone is deeply disturbed and confused. Everyone is holding him back and trying to prevent him from lashing out. He’s like a rabid animal. And that’s really interesting, because he calls his wife a thing, but he’s not acting like a rational person. But he thinks he’s very rational.

Even full of hatred, Leontes loves so hard. He clearly still loves his son and cares about him so much. In one of the scenes, he seems very distraught over his wife’s “betrayal,” and he is very emotional about it. When he basically starts crying, you realize how much he fully believes it.”

“This man said that he hasn’t been sleeping, like, at all. He’s having a mental breakdown and I kinda feel bad? Like, I’ve had my own ‘episodes’ that have caused me to act very irrationally and emotionally, so I understand the feelings. I also remember the personal aftermath of these episodes, and any guilt that may occur once you come back down to earth. But he’s also hurting innocent people, and it’s really disturbing to see, and you are also perfectly justified in feeling very angry at him for doing this to those who love him.

So that makes it all the more tragic to me. He’s truly in a state of mental unwellness, and when he recovers, he’ll see the damage he has caused, and the damage itself is incredibly tragic as well. Hermione loves and trusts him, and you can see the hurt and betrayal written on her face when he turns on her. Even though he is the more touchy-feely one, she does love as deeply as him. And she doesn’t even seem that mad, just hurt, and she probably sees how unwell he is. And when you realize that a loved one is in a state like that, it’s horrible, because you love them, and one of the main things you see is their suffering. But you yourself are suffering from the hurricane.”

I just love this production because, as I said in my notes, Leontes feels so passionately about everything. If he feels love, he feels it intensely. If he feels even a twinge of jealous, he becomes full of hate. He is full of extremes, so it almost makes sense that he’d react so intensely to something so small. But it also makes sense that everyone would be surprised by thing. Because again, he has only really shown them his loving side, and you would never expect something from someone who loves so intensely.

Which is really sad. All of it is.

[tanith-rhea]

she'll still give me a heart attack one day

for anyone wondering, this was an interview gwen made where she asked questions to the wonderful due behind Cheek by Jowl about their experience in theater. I believe the full interview is available on YouTube and has about 15 minutes. The cute laughter is at the very end, but it's a very interesting video and has lots of serious x playful gwen moments

SHES ADORABLE I LOVE HER

[tahthetrickster]

have spent the last several weeks sloooooowly befriending the bighuge feral neighborhood tomcat by establishing myself as a safe source of food and clean water and today i got my very first friendly tail out of him :)

[measureformeasure]

do you have any measure for measure production recommendations?

yes! the 2019 RSC prod is pretty good imho, very solid even if angelo's wig is so bad. the cheek by jowl production is in russian and you can watch it here: it gets a lot grimier than RSC, which is a good thing.

[dirtyoldmanhole]

feel like the craggier i draw him the more i like the resulting likeness :v

[scorporia]

FAT

APPLE

HEAD

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

starting YET ANOTHER production of the winter’s tale stay tuned i guess

[gorillaxyz]

i really like this angle actually omg. everything here just comes together so perfectly aghhhh i wish i could draw it. whatevs.

[growling]

Some rough cat Yomi pose sketches cause it's been a while since the last rc cat au post. Followers on my main get wip privileges

[lovetgr76]

Saskia shares the joys of working on Shakespeare with Cheek by Jowl's Declan Donnellan and Joe Hill-Gibbins, "directors who have real imagination and love the text and storytelling".

[its-shakespeare-baby]

Howdy friend 🤠! *Beats you to death with a stick*

[venacoeurva]

Of course I made Wren, what did you expect (a tiefling and not an elf though)

[emptyfie1ds]

fun fact: instead of referencing human photos for her human face i look at timbavati lioness

[diorstarr]

carrie

[tedthetalk]

So funny that my son, the rudest cat I’ve ever interacted with in my life, constantly has the cutest pictures. I know what you are.