The work of Shakespeare and the Playhouse were the natural children of Elizabethan London. The centrifugal force of that London sucked in people and cultures and spat them out transformed or exhausted. The world poured into London as a global trading port and individuals like Shakespeare gravitated towards London to take their chances and realise their dreams. Injustice, riches, fortunes, personal disasters,
the power of the state and the energy of the streets, sat side by
side in this hells kitchen. The Shakespearean Playhouse lived
next to the most vulgar and brutal forms of entertainment.
Shakespeare's work never ran away from this reality.

In a sense London was out of control, ever expanding, difficult to police and difficult to organise. Shakespeare's work reshaped the antique theatre to the rhythm of that contemporary life. Mixing old
time story telling with modern curiosities.

In Shakespeare's work dreams and desires coexist in an environment of corruption and exploitation. In Shakespeare human understanding is faced by brutal reality and I find this battleground of human potential and frustration fascinating.

The playhouse with it's cross cultural and varied social audience, the location of the theatre in the middle of London life (low and high), and the direct impact of Shakespearean theatre, have remained strongest reference point for my work.