One afternoon in December my phone rang and Joanne Curtis from BBC South East was asking about the Rye Shakespeare Company. She wondered if our drama group had been formed to honour the fact that Shakespeare had been to Rye?
I quickly explained that we had started as part of the late-lamented Medieval Festival in 1990 to perform short outdoor plays around the town. Our first production was the ‘Pryramus and Thisbe’ play from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, so we had decided to call ourselves the Rye Shakespeare Company, which also shortened nicely to RSC!
And “No, we didn’t know Shakespeare had been here”. Yes, it was true that we had written and performed a play called “Shakespeare in Rye” – but this was part of our ‘Secret History of Rye’ series and was inspired by the fact that the Jacobean dramatist John Fletcher had been born in Rye and collaborated with Shakespeare on some of his later plays.
Joanne then explained that the BBC were planning a season of programmes in 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and that – as his company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, had toured through Kent and Sussex in 1596/7 – BBC South East were preparing to present “Shakespeare on Tour” and to film three known locations where they had performed, Rye being one of them.
Since in all the time I’ve lived in Rye, all the histories of Rye and books I’ve read about the Bard, I’d only ever come across a brief note which implied that Shakespeare and his players left London and travelled south, as the theatres were closed because of plague, and had played at Rye receiving three or four pence, but I didn’t really believe it.
But Joanne assured me that the BBC had had academics researching their visit and it was indeed true. This was also confirmed to me by historian former Mayor, Jo Kirkham from Rye’s Museum as the payment of one pound to the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (sadly no more detail) was recorded in the Town’s records of the time.
Then it got even more exciting, they were coming to Rye to film in February and would the RSC be prepared to perform a short scene from Shakespeare for the programme?
I explained that there were “proper” Shakespeare companies at Smallhythe and Three Oaks but no, it had to be a Rye company. It would be filmed at the Town Hall because that was built where the old Court and Market House had stood, and was most likely where the travelling players would have performed.
Well, it would have been rude to say no, so I promised to confirm in January that I could choose a scene, cast it, costume and rehearse it in time.
Christmas came and went, the date for the gig was confirmed as February 23, and by the beginning of February we got underway with a cast of the “Gentlemen of the RSC” acting the scene from Midsummer Night’s Dream (back to our roots!) where the Rude Mechanicals are given their parts for the play they are to perform before Duke Theseus and his court.
On February 23, the weather was kind, cold but bright after days of rain, and the presenter and crew from the BBC were able to film several planned interviews around the town before meeting us “camera ready” at 2pm.
I’m relieved today that all went without a hitch and turned out to be a really good experience which we topped off by enjoying afternoon tea at the Kino, the cast still in costume. I wonder if Shakespeare found suitable refreshment nearby? We are looking forward to hearing more about this historical visit, as well as enjoying our probable 15 seconds of fame!
Joanne Curtis, Broadcast Co-ordinator for BBC South East, has advised that the film is scheduled to transmit on Wednesday 23 March on the 6:30pm programme (BBC 1, South East region). “Normally these VT’s go out in the latter part of the South East Today news programme around 18:45 pm. If you are in an area where you cannot easily access watch – then the programme is normally uploaded onto iplayer at around 7:30pm on the same evening”.
She added: “The visit of Shakespeare’s company to Rye in 1597 was part of an extensive tour across England and was arguably the most difficult the company was to undertake – nearly 500 miles across an 11 week period, taking in Faversham, Dover, Bristol, Marlborough and Bath, as well as Rye”.
Photos courtesy of BBC South East