recent shows
Hansel and Gretel
20th - 23rd February 2008, Great Hall, Durham Castle
Durham Opera Ensemble in association with Durham University Orchestral Society and Castle Theatre Company bring you Humperdinck’s HANSEL AND GRETEL
After last year’s sell-out production of L’Enfant et les Sortileges, Durham Opera Ensemble returned in 2008 with another spooky fairytale, brought to life by Engelbert Humperdinck’s magical score. In association with Durham University Orchestral Society and Castle Theatre Company, DOE accomplished an enchanting production of the beloved story of Hansel and Gretel - a tale of a furious mother, two frightened children, a vicious witch and…lots and lots of sweets! Durham Castle’s spectacular Great Hall will be bewitched by a full symphony orchestra, a corps de ballet, and a stunning cast of Durham’s most talented musicians to create a unique operatic experience not to be missed.
Buried Child
31 January - 2 February 2008, Assembly Rooms, Durham
Continuing our year of dark and unnerving theatre, Castle Theatre Company returned to the Assembly Rooms this Feburary with a sharp production of the Pulitzer-prize winning Buried Child by Sam Shepard.The setting was a squalid farm home occupied by a family filled with suppressed violence and an unease born of deep-seated unhappiness.
The characters are a ranting, alcoholic grandfather; a sanctimonious grandmother who goes on drinking bouts with the local minister; and their sons, Tilden, an All-American footballer now a hulking semi-idiot; and Bradley, who has lost one leg to a chain saw. Into their midst comes Vince, a grandson none of them recognizes or remembers, and his girlfriend, Shelly, who cannot comprehend the madness to which she is suddenly introduced.
The family harbors a dark secret - years earlier the grandfather, Dodge, had buried an unwanted newborn baby in an undisclosed spot, creating a cloud of guilt which dispelled only when Tilden unearths the child’s mummified remains and carries it upstairs to his mother. His act purges the family, at last, of its infamy, and suggests the perhaps slim possibility of a new beginning under Vince, whose estrangement from the others has spared him the taint of their sin.
“a mature and faultless portrayal…a production well worthy of a full and attentive theatre” (Durham21)
Marat/Sade
November 2007
In November 2007, the renowned Castle Theatre Company presented Peter Weiss’ epic The Persecution and Assasination of Jean-Paul Marat as performed by the inmates of the Chanteron Asylum under the Supervision of the Maquis de Sade. A show that combined song, dance, philosophy and incredible visual dynamics came to life in Durham Castle’s stunning Great Hall.
“awakening theatre” - Palatinate
“fascinating and brave” - Artslink
“a fabulous sense of unease” - durham21.co.uk