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Synopsis England, 1976. The Winter of Discontent. Cold hearts seek comfort and poor souls look for love. A woman nurses her dying father; a cleaner greedily devours her Open University course in the fight for a better life; a career woman seeks the path that her life never took, and the loyal friend, always in the shadows, fears he will disappear one day and no-one will notice. We are in the lonely hearts column of life. "Save me" is the silent call that drifts from their aching bodies. But wait. Help is at hand. Don John is here! Dangerous, naughty and irresistible, Don John is a vessel for all our desires – a delicious chancer. He enters our lives and leaves us changed. Oh yes, he leaves us, for Don John belongs to nobody but himself and The Devil! The legend of the world's greatest lover meets the controlled madness of Kneehigh Theatre.
Awful, self-indulgent and without any positive points. Have been a huge fan of Kneehigh for my many years but will never go to another production. A script without any wit or depth, music without any context and subtelty and performances that a school production would be ashamed of. It was a perfect example of style over substance and one of the worst productions I've seen in a long time. If plays offered refunds, I'd demand one. - Tom, London
20 Apr 09
As a fan of Kneehigh for 20years, I was saddened to see them plumb such depths with another meaningless vehicle for Emma Rice's obsession with grubby mechanical loveless sex.
A hotchpotch of slapstick, gimmicks , unerotic glimpses of flesh & hip thrusting may have satisfied the school party audience but anyone looking for believable well rounded characters with coherent motivation & any degree of emotional engagement would be sadly disappointed.
- Rose,Cornwall
11 Feb 09
I have been a fan of Kneehigh for twenty years...until recently. They used to be so very innovative, clever, magical. Since Tristan and Iseult they've gone steadily downhill with Don John being no exception. The set, lighting and music were fine. The rest was largely boring. Dissipated Don John seemed to be on the stage forever doing nothing but stagger around drinking from a bottle. The slapstick wasn't funny. The best word to describe the performance was self-indulgent. - Jenny Scolding
10 Feb 09
Spectacular, sensual and superb. Different from the traditional RSC productions but isn’t theatre a place where one can be versatile and adventurous? One of the best productions I have seen in the last 5 years! Seeing it in Newcastle’s Northern Stage moved me to see it again! Well done Emma Rice, jolly good work! - Jared
29 Jan 09
i liked looking at the naked girls - Gansta Guy
28 Jan 09
I didn't walk out. I fled the theatre in the interval. I couldn't leave earlier since I was in the middle of a row. I was still grinding my teeth when I got home. Amateurish everything. This is killing theatre in the UK. - Bilejo
28 Jan 09
I didn't walk out. I fled the theatre in the interval. I couldn't leave earlier since I was in the middle of a row. I was still grinding my teeth when I got home. Amateurish everything. This is killing theatre in the UK. - Bilejo
28 Jan 09
My expectations had been so much higher than Knee, but in spite of energetic acrobatics this this production never left the ground. The company's Matter of Life and Death had been one of the real treats of the last National season, but this Don John was frankly pathetic, never exploring the dark sexual dynamics of the story, just a pseudo macho swagger through the classic story, and some faintly observed period references to winter of discontent and 70's disco dancing. The RSC has always presented such interesting work from visiting companies but not this time. - John Blake
20 Jan 09
I thought the whole production was absolutely brilliant. As a drama student, i think people are completely missing the point and edge of all kneehigh productions. They are clearly trying to put a modern edge on it and have come up with some very creative ways to do this. I thoroughly enjoyed it! well done kneehigh :)) - Laura Belardo
20 Jan 09
Very boring. Badly staged with those cargo containers. And could Emma Rice PLEASE come up with a new bag of tricks; everything she does has the same gimmicks and they're now stale. - Josh
Southern Lane Stratford-Upon-Avon Warwickshire CV37 6BH
Telephone
0870 6091110
Station
Description
1000 seat theatre. A temporary theatre that will be home to the RSC s main ensemble during the transformation of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Built as an extention to The Other Place. The building to be completed in time of the Complete Works Shakesespeare Festival.
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