''In Lambeth'' is a 1989 play by Jack Shepherd, centred on a meeting between

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

and

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In ...

in 1791. Its title quotes from Blake's poem ''

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

'' ( plate 37, line 14 - "There is a Grain of Sand in Lambeth that Satan cannot find").

History

The play was first performed at the East Dulwich Tavern in London on 12 July 1989. and then at the

Donmar Warehouse The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit Off-West End theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977. Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage, Josie Rourke and Michael Longhurst have all served as artistic direc ...

, directed by Shepherd himself and starring

Bob Peck Robert Peck (23 August 1945 – 4 April 1999) was an English actor who played Ronald Craven in the television serial ''Edge of Darkness'', for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor, BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He ...

as Paine and

Michael Maloney Michael Maloney (born 19 June 1957) is a British actor. Life and career Born in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, Maloney's first television appearance was as Peter Barkworth's teenage son in the 1979 drama series ''Telford's Change''. He made his ...

as Blake. Peck reprised the role (alongside

Mark Rylance Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (; born 18 January 1960) is an English actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen, having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Oliv ...

as Blake and Lesley Clare O'Neill as Katherine) in an adaptation of the play for television in the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

''Encounters'' series, which featured similar fictionalized meetings between historical figures. First broadcast on 4 July 1993, it was directed by Sebastian Graham-Jones An anniversary tour of the play was produced by the group 'Love and Madness' from February to April 2010, this time starring Shepherd. The play is also being produced at the

Southwark Playhouse Southwark Playhouse is a theatre in London with two venues, both located between Borough and Elephant and Castle tube stations. History The Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice and Tom Wilson. They ident ...

between 10 July and 2 August 2014, directed by Michael Kingsbury and starring Blair Anderson, Melody Grove, Christopher Hunter and Tom Mothersdale.

References

1989 plays Biographical plays about writers Fiction set in 1791 Plays set in the 1790s Plays set in the United Kingdom History of the London Borough of Lambeth William Blake Cultural depictions of Thomas Paine {{1980s-play-stub