10 – 13 January
‘A roaring girl whose notes till now never were,
shall fill with laughter our vast theatre.
Would you hear her name?
She is call’d mad Moll; her life, our acts proclaim.’
Come meet the Governess of the City’s underworld, Moll Cutpurse. Often seen sporting men’s breeches, she exists outside the rules of Jacobean society and has a reputation for doing so. Sebastian and his father, Sir Alexander, however, need these rules to survive and thrive.
Sebastian wishes to marry Mary, a woman of lower social ranking but his father forbids the match. In desperate need, Sebastian turns to Moll to hatch a plan, and, inevitably, chaos ensues.
The question is, who controls the chaos? Is it them over there, lurking in the shadows?
In this adaptation of The Roaring Girl, Bristol Old Vic’s Young Company will expose the secrets and suggestions hidden in Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean comedy, imagining a world where power is shared.
Photo credit: James E. Davies
