Shakespeare’s lost play – Cardenio

This Autumn, Kelvin Players Theatre Company becomes the first UK non-professional company to take on Cardenio. It has been dubbed Shakespeare’s lost play and hasn’t long been released by the Royal Shakespeare Company for outside performance.

The play is a masterful excavation of source material by the RSC’s Gregory Doran and his Spanish counterpart Antonio Alamo which has been reconstructed to ensure theatre audiences have a new classic to discover in the 21^st century.

Set in Andalucía, Spain this play combines all the great dramatic elements you’d expect from the Bard; love, deception, friend turning on friend and a casual bit of cross dressing.  When Cardenio declares his love for Luscinda, his supposed friend Fernando comes up with a devious plan to split them apart. Will it all end in tears?

Using an innovative set and a traditional Flamenco vibe with music and a fiesta scene, this production promises to continue Kelvin’s ground-breaking year, after their debut at Tobacco Factory Theatres.

Director Jonny Wilkinson says “I’m really excited to be directing the UK amateur premier of Cardenio. We have a hugely talented cast including new and existing Kelvin members. Against the norms of Shakespeare’s era, when only men were allowed to perform on stage, several female members of the cast are playing male roles in this production. In total there are 7 men and 7 women playing 12 male roles and 5 female roles.”

Cardenio will be performed from 14^th to 17^th and 21^st to 24^th October at 7.30pm. Tickets are £8 for Wednesdays, £10 all other nights, available from www.kelvinplayers.co.uk