When We were Queens
Written by Peter Straughan
Barrow Youth Theatre was chosen from amateur companies all over the Northern Region to take part in Future Tense, a festival of 5 new plays written especially for non-professional groups by 5 exciting playwrights from the region.
CAST
John Cherie Wood
Kit Emma Zimmerman
William Hayley Mahon
Jimmy Layla Davies
Beckett Leigh Thorne
Phillip Matthew Grisedale
Sid Owen Charnley
Chris Nichola Biggens
Thomas Robin Lennox
Jack Danny McKeating
Paul Dan Moore
Benno David Shipley
Henry David Woods
Jonathan Laura Barker
When we Were Queens is based upon three facts.
Firstly, as it was illegal for women to act on the Elizabethan stage, the female roles in Shakespeare’s plays were originally played by companies of boy actors.
Secondly, the boys were often struggling with poverty and were forced into the life of rent boys.
Thirdly - with very few exceptions - they remain to this day unknown, their names unrecorded in any history of the English stage.
When We Were Queens explores the lives of some of these boy actors as their struggle to survive leads them into an underworld of drugs, prostitution and murder.
The play opens in the wings of The Globe Theatre during a performance of Hamlet . . .
Performed by Barrow Senior Youth Theatre at The Forum, Barrow in January 1999 and at Live Theatre, Newcastle in April 1999
CREW
Director Wils Wilson
Composer/SoundDesign Olly Fox
Assisstant Director Phillip Gregg
Stage Manager Laura Moss
Production Manager Richie Orr
Lighting Design Paul Colley
Lighting Technician Leigh Paton
Sound Technician Tony Wilcock
Wardrobe Assisstants Laura Barker, Cherie Wood