400-year-old play resurrected by Victoria Theatre students

Performing a forgotten Elizabethan script has been like discovering Pompeii body casts for the first time, according to Victoria University Theatre students.

The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt by Renaissance playwrights John Webster and Thomas Dekker, will be given its first public performance in 400 years at Victoria University's Studio 77 this week.

"It's like unearthing a piece of history," says actress Jo Winslade who plays the Bishop of Winchester.

"It's exciting for us as young actors to be the first people to perform this play since Elizabethan times. We get to set the precedent for how these historical characters are interpreted today."

The play dramatizes the historical struggle of succession after the death of King Edward VI. Between his death and the golden reign of Elizabeth I, Sir Thomas Wyatt helped Bloody Mary beat Lady Jane Grey to the English throne. But when Mary chooses a Spanish husband, Wyatt’s love of his country turns him from hero to traitor.

Director David Lawrence says the play represents an era when the monarchy meant everything to people.

"The play comes from a time in history when the English monarchy meant more than gossip magazines and token visits to commonwealth nations. It comes from a time when sovereignty was a role ordained by God."

The play is performed by students of the Victoria Theatre programme's 300-level 'Conventions of Drama and Theatre' course, which has a history of pioneering the rediscovery of long-neglected Renaissance plays, including almost the entire Webster canon. Last year it produced the world premiere of Professor Gary Taylor’s creative reconstruction of Shakespeare and Fletcher’s lost play The History of Cardenio.

"It's the theatrical equivalent of archaeology," says Lawrence, who is also course co-ordinator.

"These third year students get more than just the opportunity to put obscure plays on stage - they're helping solve another piece in the whole crazy jigsaw puzzle of Renaissance theatre."

What: The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt, by John Webster and Thomas Dekker, directed by David Lawrence, presented by THEA302 and THEA324

When: Wednesday 19 to Saturday 22 May 2010, 7.30pm

Where: Studio 77, 77 Fairlie Terrace, Kelburn (Gate 10 of Victoria University)

Tickets: $8 unwaged $15 waged

To book: email theatre@vuw.ac.nz or call 04 463 5359