The Dark Horse

This week, in an intriguing paradox, The Shakespeare Institute hosts the world premiere of a play that was first produced in the West End nearly forty years ago.

The Dark Horse is an entertaining, sharply-written history play about the making of the first Tudor King, Henry VII.  Its only previous production, in the late 1970s, was in an abridged version.  Now for the first time, the complete play will be staged by FRED Theatre Company at the Institute on Thursday 19, Friday 20, and Saturday 21 May. 

The Institute is an appropriate venue for the performance, because the play’s author, Rosemary Anne Sisson, is the daughter of the Shakespeare scholar C. J. Sisson, the original Deputy Director of the Institute at the time of its foundation by Allardyce Nicoll in 1951.  Rosemary is a significant dramatist not only for the stage but also film and television.  Among many others she contributed to such well remembered series as The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Elizabeth R, and Upstairs, Downstairs.

The play begins at 19:00 and the first performance, on Thursday 19 May, will be followed by a Q&A session with Rosemary, director Robert F. Ball, and members of the creative team.