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The Motive and the Cue

Details

Synopsis

1964: Richard Burton, the firebrand Welsh actor, newly married to movie star Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title role in an experimental new production of Hamlet under the exacting direction of John Gielgud.

But as rehearsals progress, the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel. One of them is the most famous movie star in the world; the other, a patrician from an earlier age of theatre. The stage is set for two titans to collide.

Jack Thorne’s The Motive and the Cue is a fierce, funny play which offers a glimpse into the politics of a rehearsal room and the relationship between art and celebrity.

Character Breakdown

RICAHRD BURTON, Hamlet
ROBERT MILLI, Horatio
HUME CRONYN, Polonius
EILEEN HERLIE, Gertrude
LINDA MARSH, Ophelia
WILLAM REDFIELD, Guildenstern
CLEMENT FOWLER, Rosencrantz
GEORGE VOSKOVEC, Player King
FREDERICK YOUNG, Barnardo
ALFRED DRAKE, Claudius
CHRISTINE COOPER, Player Queen
DILLON EVANS, Osric
SIR JOHN GIELGUD, director and Ghost
JESSICA LEVY, assistant to Sir John
SUSANNAH MASON, stage manager
MICK BURROWS, stage manager
ELIZABETH TAYLOR, a world apart
HUGH McHAFFIE, a further world apart

Teacher Notes

Great m/m and m/f scenes, British dialect