An original commission from RABBLE Theatre
2nd-18th November 2017
St James' Church, Reading
As King Henry I approaches the end of his life, he appoints his daughter, Matilda, as successor to the throne.
Fierce, determined, and clever, Matilda knows she is fit to be England’s first female ruler, but in the ruthless world
of medieval politics, the nobles would prefer a man. When her cousin Stephen grabs the crown, Matilda is
forced to choose: accept the injustice, or start a war.
Meanwhile the inhabitants of Reading, who have been quietly prospering in the shadow of their new Abbey, have their lives turned upside down, as The Anarchy erupts across the countryside.
The sequel to RBL’s 2016 double award-winning, multi five star Henry I, Matilda the Empress weaves an epic story of politics, love and intrigue, amidst a backdrop of terror, and a desperate bid for survival by the ordinary people of Reading.
A note from the producers
In 2017, 19 women are heads of state or government across earth’s 195 countries, leaving the remaining 176 to the men. Is it not astonishing that nearly 1000 years ago this statistic was much the same? Why are we so obsessed with gender, still? It’s enough to drive you into a 19-year civil war…
To think that Matilda and her father might have walked the ground beneath your seat, discussing the future of the English lineage, perhaps whilst admiring the fabled hand of St James, is tantalising. It is also, however, probable and this sense of a physical connection to nationally important history on our doorstep is something that we as a company want to imbue into the souls of all who see our shows.
This is a town of staggering historical importance but it is also one that’s surrounded by leading businesses and it is these businesses that hold the key to improving Reading’s culture. Arts Council England have truly delivered on their 2016 promise to invest in Reading but they will only continue to do so if they see some of the bigger businesses getting behind the local arts scene. At RBL, we’re lucky to have the support of some amazing local firms who we are proud to vouch for and it is rewarding to begin rehearsals knowing that we have raised just under £110,000 for this show, but we need more support.
One success story this year has been the rise of RBL Friends who give from £25 a year to support our work and that’s been a great help. If you’d like to join us then please click here now and take a couple of minutes to sign up, or if you’re with a business and want to discuss corporate engagement, email toby@rabbletheatre.com.
Please immerse yourself in this story. Take it away with you when you walk around the town. Think of Matilda when you hear a discriminatory comment.
We hope that the story inspires you and that you enjoy the show.
The Guardian
Guardian Top 20 UK Show
“An incredibly modern tale set in medieval times. Exceptional, rare to see a show of this calibre outside of the West End”
GetReading
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“the audience weeping, their personal tragedies seemingly sucking all of the air from the church. Outstanding”
Whitley Pump
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Matilda is one such gem… powerful , dramatic, captivating and mesmerising. A must-see play.”
The Stage
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
‘Dynamic, engaging, ambitious’
Bracknell News
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Superbly heinous, glorious. She is at once powerful and vulnerable. In no uncertain terms (RABBLE) has once again produced something brilliant, a stand-out piece of theatre. Go and see it.“
Henley Standard
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Thrilling. Moments of conflict and high tension are punctuated by scenes of tenderness and genuine emotion”
Awards:
- Reading Place of Culture Ambassador Award: RBL Theatre Company (Matilda the Empress)
- Cultural Organisation of the Year: RBL Theatre Company (Matilda the Empress)
- Pride of Reading, Cultural Contribution: RBL (Matilda the Empress)
Creative Team
Written by Beth Flintoff
Director: Hal Chambers
Designer: Bek Palmer
Lighting Designer: Oliver Welsh
Fight Director: Ian McCracken
Co-Fight Director: Mark Middleton
Costume Supervisor: Lisa Aitken
Wardrobe Mistress: Fran Newman
Composers: Rosalind Steele and Benjamin Hudson (aka Brain Rays)
Associate Sound Designer - Joe Morris
Stage Manager: Rosalind Doré
Assistant Stage Manager - Becca Muress
Set Maker: Toby Burbage
Movement Director: Kate Webster
Production manager: Steph Weller
Cast
Dani McCallum – Matilda the Empress
For RBL: Olivia Twelfth Night, Beatrice Much Ado About Nothing, Matilda Henry I of England (Preview) and The Life and Death of Reading’s Buried King (The Oracle Riverside).
Training: The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Theatre Includes: Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare at The Tobacco Factory), Hedda Gabler (Bath Theatre Royal), The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Taming of the Shrew (The Guildford Shakespeare Company), Authentic Voices and Beauty and the Beast (Basingstoke Haymarket).
TV Includes: Feature Film TAG and last year Dani filmed a trailer for The Reckoning, a new series about female assassins, directed by Jane McGee, produced by Jennah Dirksen. Adverts include Sky Sports and AA Roadside Recovery. Dani is a qualified stage combat instructor and choreographed RBL’s Romeo and Juliet and Henry I of England.
Edward M Corrie – Alfric & Robert
For RBL: Off The Block 2013, ‘16 & ‘17
Training: Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now RCS)
Theatre includes: The Man Who Had All the Luck (Sell-A-Door Theatre), A Child
Made Of Love (Glasgay), To Kill A Kelpie (Glasgay) and The Accidental Death Of An
Accordionist (Mull Theatre)
Television includes: Shetland III (ITV Studios), Case Histories (BBC), Holby City
(BBC), Eastenders (BBC), Doctors (BBC) and Taggart (ITV)
Elizabeth Crarer - Emma
Theatre includes: Hamlet (dir. Justin Audibert), Othello (dir. Beth Flintoff) (The Watermill Theatre), Emily: the making of a militant suffragette (dir. Kath Burlinson, The Production Exchange), The Disappearance of Sadie Jones (dir. Hannah Silva in association with the Bike Shed Theatre), Bronte (dir. Nancy Meckler, Shared Experience), Charley’s Aunt (dir. Braham Murray, Manchester Royal Exchange), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (dir. Sean Matthias, Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Applecart/ The Browning Version (dir. Peter Hall, Bath Theatre Royal)
TV/film includes: Midsomer Murders and Law&Order:UK
Directing Includes: No Petticoats Here (Louise Jordan in association with The Heroine Project Presents), Over The Top (The Heroine Project Presents), The Red Shoes and Suffragette City (YMT:UK)
Assistant Directing includes: We’re Here Because We’re Here (Salisbury Playhouse in association with the National Theatre), Triptych (YMT:UK)
Elizabeth is a member of The Natural Theatre Company, which specializes in outdoor arts.
Georgina Strawson – Matilda of Boulogne
For RBL: Matilda the Empress R&D, Off the Block 2017
Training: LAMDA (acting), Nottingham University (English BA Hons).
Theatre includes: Wind in the Willows (Creation), Much Ado about Nothing (AFTLS US tour), Girl’s Guide to Saving the World (Hightide), Middlemarch Trilogy (The Orange Tree), The Winslow Boy/Macbeth (Bolton Octagon), Taking steps (Old Laundry) Swifter, Higher, Stronger (Roundhouse).
TV Includes: Aliens (E4), New Blood (BBC), Count Arthur Strong (BBC3) The Phone Shop (Channel 4), Lewis (ITV), The Cricklewood Greats (BBC)
Film Includes: Postcards From London (The Bureau), The Selkie’s Lover (Far North Films).
Georgina currently appears as, series regular, Rosamund Calendar in Hetty Feather (CBBC). Her debut as a playwright will run at the Vaults festival in London 2018 The internet was made for adults.
Jak Ford-Lane - Geoffrey
For RBL: Geoffrey in Matilda the Empress R&D, Off the Block 2016 & ‘17.
Training: East 15 Acting School
Theatre Includes: Kenny in Detroit, Maurice in Good, Biff in Death of a Salesman, God in The Good Person of Szechwan, Pompey in Measure for Measure, Clown in The Winter’s Tale, Liam in 13, Michal in The Pillowman (East 15)
Lord Dog in The Peach Child (Cottesloe, National Theatre), Alan in 46 Beacon (The Hope Theatre), Erik Bratsberg in The League of Youth (Theatre N16).
Film and TV Includes: Graham in Taboo, Private Wright in Jerusalem, Student in BBC Shorts.
Radio Includes: David in Blind Faith BBC Radio 2, Ensemble in Scribblers BBC Radio 3.
Michael Fenner - Henry I, Ypres
Training: Michael was educated at Reading School and trained at Central.
Theatre Includes:
West End: The Wars of the Roses (ESC: Old Vic and world tour), Zoo Story (Young Vic), Out of Order (Shaftesbury), It Runs in the Family (Playhouse), The Mousetrap (St. Martins, UK-Eire tour). Shakespeare’s Globe: As You Like It, A Mad World My Masters, King Lear, Taming of the Shrew,
National Theatre: Amadeus, Othello, Sisterly Feelings, Hiawatha, The Romans in Britain, The Hypochondriac (Plays and Players Nomination for Best Newcomer), The Spanish Tragedy, The Mayor of Zalamea, The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
Royal Shakespeare Company: Oroonoko, Timon of Athens. ESC: Beowulf (UK Tour). Edinburgh: Berkoff’s Oedipus. Rep: Mill at Sonning, Manchester Library, Royal Exchange, Bristol Old Vic, Salisbury, Westcliff, Perth, Crewe, Leatherhead, Windsor, Bromley, Basingstoke, Tron.
TV Includes: Inspector Morse, Eastenders, My Family, Footballers’ Wives, Sinchronicity, London’s Burning, Doctors, Monocled Mutineer.
Film Includes: A Feast At Midnight, Lost in London, Hawk the Slayer.
Oliver Gomm – King Stephen
For RBL: Oscar Wilde on Trial, Reading Gaol
Oliver is an Artist and Actor.
Recent Exhibitions include: The Brick Lane Gallery (London), The Jam Factory (Oxford).
Theatre includes: Kill Me Now, African Gothic (The Park Theatre), She Stoops to Conquer (Northern Broadsides), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theatre Royal Derngate), The Country Wife, Charlie's Aunt, True Love Lies, Lady Windermere's Fan (Royal Exchange, Manchester), Three Musketeers (ETT).
Television Includes: SSGB, The Coroner, Holby City, Doctors, Hope Springs (BBC) Thanks For The Memories (Memories Productions).
Radio Includes: The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse (BBC)
Paul Brendan - Brian
For RBL: Oscar Wilde On Trial, Reading Gaol.
Training: Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Theatre Includes: Faithful Ruslan - The Story Of A Guard Dog, (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry / Citizen’s Theatre, Glasgow). Julius Caesar, Antony & Cleopatra, Richard I, King Lear, The Cherry Orchard, On the Evils Of Tobacco (Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory), Medea (Headlong), Comedy Of Errors, the Knight of the Burning Pestle (Shakespeare's Globe), All My Sons The Watermill Theatre, Dial M For Murder (New Vic Theatre), The Scarecrows Wedding (Scamp Theatre), Molière (Finborough Theatre); A Model For Mankind (The Cock Tavern), Stone Cold Murder (The Mill At Sonning), Twelfth Night (The Lord Chamberlain’s Men), Four For Jericho (Menagerie Theatre Company), Blowing (Company Of Angels), Gizmo Love (Pins & Needles), Brooklyn (Arcola Theatre)
Television includes: Guerrilla (Sky Atlantic), A Life Divided, Flying High, Rosamunde Pilcher Series (Zdf Germany)