''The Upstart Crow'' is a stage play by

Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton is a British comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. One of the major figures in the alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, his early stand-up style was Left-wing politics, left-wing political satire ...

developed from his BBC TV

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Upstart Crow ''Upstart Crow'' is a British sitcom based on the life of William Shakespeare written by Ben Elton. The show premiered on 9 May 2016 on BBC Two as part of the commemorations of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. Its title quotes "an ...

''.

Production history

The play, directed by Sean Foley, began previews at the

Gielgud Theatre The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, at the corner of Rupert Street, in the City of Westminster, London. The house currently has 994 seats on three levels. The theatre was designed by W. G. R. Sprague and ...

London's West End The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, England, in the London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which ma ...

on 7 February 2020, with an official opening night on 17 February. This was David Mitchell's stage debut. The play was intended to run until 25 April 2020, but only ran up to mid-March, with the remainder cancelled as a result of restrictions put in place due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The play reopened in the West End at the

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a listed building, Grade II listed West End theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

for a ten-week season from 23 September until 3 December 2022, with Mitchell and

Gemma Whelan Gemma Elizabeth Whelan (born 1981) is an English actress and comedian known for portraying Yara Greyjoy in the HBO fantasy-drama series ''Game of Thrones'' and as her stand-up character Chastity Butterworth. She also plays Kate in all 4 series ...

reprising the roles of William Shakespeare and Kate.

Cast and characters

The main cast or the Original London production included many who featured in the TV series, amongst them:

Synopsis

The play is set in 1605, with

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

depressed after the death of his son Hamnet, and needing to write a successful play to maintain his position.

calls it "an entirely original excursion, not a 'TV adaption'". The plot was summarised by the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' critic Nick Curtis: "Shakespeare gets over writer’s block by nicking ideas from other people. His landlady’s daughter, wannabe actress Kate gives him the plot of ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

''. A pair of noble Egyptian twins recall ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'' — as does the humiliation-by-codpiece of

Mark Heap Mark Heap (born 13 May 1957) is a British actor and comedian. Television credits include '' Ghost Train'' (1991), '' Smith & Jones'' (1997–1998), '' Brass Eye'' (1997–2001), '' Kiss Me Kate'' (1998), '' The Zig and Zag Show'' (1998), '' Ho ...

’s lovestruck puritan — and also spark the idea for ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

''."

Reception

The play was well received by critics.

Mark Lawson Mark Gerard Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author. Specialising in culture and the arts, he is best known for presenting the flagship BBC Radio 4 arts programme '' Front Row'' between 1998 and 2014. He is also a '' Guardian'' ...

wrote in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'': "Punchlines and slapstick are meticulously timed, culminating in a spectacular sight-gag involving costumes...including a bear suit, an unfeasibly large codpiece and an escalatingly testicular pair of the baggy-thighed trousers. Although some of the new Puritans who police our own culture may find the latter too broad, the mix of bawdy and scholarly references is authentically Shakespearean." In the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'', Dominic Cavendish wrote, "

has restored himself to favour in theatreland with this joyously silly spin-off to his much-loved BBC Shakespeare sitcom." Nick Curtis in the ''

'' called it, "funny but exhausting", and said: "You can spot the mile-off joke about '' The Winter’s Tale'' the moment the dancing bear appears."

Awards

References

Notes

Sources

*Programme, ''The Upstart Crow'', Gielgud Theatre (2020) {{DEFAULTSORT:Upstart Crow, The 2020 plays Cultural depictions of William Shakespeare English plays Plays set in the 17th century Plays set in London