New Elizabethan Drama Premieres at Globe

The first play written specifically for Shakespeare's newly reconstructed Globe Theatre receives its world premiere tonight. Augustine's Oak, by the Globe's writer-in-residence Peter Oswald, continues until 24 September 1999. The play is written in traditional Elizabethan verse and is designed specifically for the unique demands of the Globe's open theatre space.

Based on Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Augustine's Oak tells the story of St Augustine's mission from Rome in 597 AD to convert the pagan English. Sent by Pope Gregory the Great, Augustine and his monks land in Kent. Having struggled there to unite the page King Ethelbert with his Christian wife Bertha, Augustine finds his greatest challenge is to reconcile the breakaway Christians of the Celtic Church to the authority of Rome. Under an oak tree, the two traditions collide and the meeting changes the whole history of Britain.

Peter Oswald has been the Globe's writer in residence since 1997. His credits include Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards (National), a verse adaptation of Kalidasa's Shakuntala (Gate Theatre), and a new version of Lorca's Dona Rosita the Spinster (Almeida).

The Globe Theatre season runs from May to September. Also in repertory this season are The Comedy of Errors and the all-male productions of Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.

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