The Revenger's Tragedy Workshop - Blog - Will Kerr

On the first day working with the fantastic group of creatives on ‘The Revenger’s Tragedy’, we worked on the trying to figure out why Middleton was saying certain things and what was at the centre of his play. Why are these people behaving like this? What has happened to them and what is missing structurally from their society that has caused this animalistic environment? I found it really interesting working on a piece of early modern text that isn’t Shakespeare for the first time. Because while it is still ‘Shakespearian’ in the way that it combines Story-telling and complex textual structure, you can hear a totally different voice - Middleton. A play that starts the way in which it means to go on. Full of fire, full of events, full of revenge. I myself got caught up in the complexity of some of these events. They became more clear to me when we established, this is a play full of ‘opportunists’. The chaotic nature of it feeds these opportunists. As an actor, this makes the method of working via ‘objectives’ quite difficult. ‘Predicaments’ is a better way of working in a play where things are changing and mad things happening all the time. That was enlightening.

This made things feel different on day two. Looking at the play through a different lens. Tonally, that does a lot. Moments of comedy are clearer. Character’s intentions too. Looking at the scene between Gratiana, Castizia and ‘Vinny’, I was really impressed with the actors, and the way they had already formed such a strong sense of their characters. Gratiana especially, was Lady Macbeth-like and that moment she decides to offer her daughter was uncomfortable to watch! But in a good way. Great acting and great direction.

The question of ‘why are these characters behaving like this and what is missing structurally from their society’ came up again on day two. At first the answer seemed to me that the court was corrupt and the knock on effect, was something Similar to the horror film – The Purge. On day 2 however, we discussed the absence of God and religion in the play. What does that do? How do people behave in a ‘godless society’. This was another thing that made me look at Middleton differently to Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays are laced with the presence of a higher power. It leads characters to constantly second guess their decision and actions. In ‘The Revenger’s Tragedy’, there is no time for dwelling. I loved working on it and hope to more in the future.