The play centres on the aftermath of the overthrow of Captain Bligh in 1789 and the mutineers who find themselves in the middle of the South Pacific on the island of Pitcairn. Led by Fletcher Christian, played by Tom Morley, six mutineers and nine Tahitians attempt to build a utopian ideal and ‘true’ democracy, based on freedom, equality and fraternity. But not all are equal, patriarchy prevails, and in the end Fletcher uses both violent oppression and lies to achieve his goals.

Violent and vulgar, amongst the villainy male testosterone pervades keeping the audience on the edge of their seat waiting for the next damaging interlude to be played out. Within this ruinous setting Shakespeare’s play is surprisingly not devoured by the extreme physicality, grit and gore, its central themes and tensions come through, and instead it thrives for a modern audience.

“…Lear is a role that most serious actors crave to play, and has included the likes of Ian McKellen, Laurence Olivier, Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon but to name a few. Marcell’s portrayal is stupendous – stripped back to its simplest form, it is touching, humble and believable…the setting lends itself to such a production and it works successfully because it is imaginative, is played at just the right tempo…On a warm summer’s evening what a delight!”