I battled valiantly with TFL to make my way to The Rose Theatre, Bankside, in Southwark last night – and yes it was definitely worth the journey. I was there to sample the first offering from Trifle (insert your favourite desert based pun here), who are “a new company set up to create cutting edge theatre and film” (hmmm, so far so good).
This first offering from Trifle is The Tragedy of Soliman and Perseda, “a rich and rare Elizabethan tale” accredited to Thomas Kyd. My plus one, Kaitlyn, was impressed with The Rose’s rich history, and excited to be seeing a show that was last performed in The Rose Theatre during the late 16th century, about 400 years ago.
The Rose Theatre’s well-preserved archaeology was discovered in 1989 during an exploratory excavation during the re-development of an office block. Since its discovery, the site became a major international news story, and the site attracted many thousands of visitors. Today people visit The Rose Theatre to learn about its life between 1587 and 1603. On Tuesday night we were most interested by the red rope lights marked out the original foundations of the theatre allowing us to imagine what it must have been like during Elizabethan Times.
Our imaginations ran wild with scenes of debauchery and chaos and back in the real world we were delighted to find that Tuesday night’s performance filled The Rose with dazzling frenetic energy. Ben Galpin’s Erastus delivered a solid tragic hero, liveried in the throes of love for Cassandra Hodges’ passionate Perseda. She in turn brimmed with desire for Erastus whilst fervent in her rejection of Israel Oyelumade’s shamelessly licentious Solomon. Fortunately this powerful trio of performances were matched by thoroughly enjoyable comic relief throughout from Carsten Hayes as Basilisco and Michael Linsey as Piston. We were especially tickled by Basilisco’s deft theft of a kiss from the dying Perseda, but his costume of flamboyant pastel striped pants and baby pink Abercromie & Fitch button down shirt combined with his front of bravery seemed to a bring forth a chuckle almost every time he stepped on stage.
We felt that this play seems a perfect example of how timeless theatre is, although with its short run it may be the audience who run out of time before having the opportunity to see it. Let’s at least hope that it’s not another 400 years before the opportunity returns.
Photo from The Rose Theatre Bankside website
Written By: Trish Langenau
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