Royal Holloway University of London MA Theatre Directors at the National Gallery
Drama students from Royal Holloway will perform two pop up performances, created in response to famous works in the National Gallery. The project is the result of collaboration between the National Gallery team and our Department of Music, Drama and Media Arts. Expect the unexpected and come along and join us in the gallery...
What stories get told, and which ones are overlooked? From mythology to landscapes, stories of transformation and change to revelatory portraits, artists and playwrights have long fed from each other for inspiration. While the narrative has often been determined by the rich and powerful, what secret histories might we trace in the layers of a painting?
Students from Royal Holloway’s MA Theatre Directing perform pieces created in response to the stories in the National Gallery’s collection, 'The Rokeby Venus' and 'Witches at their Incantations'.
The Gaze – The Rokeby Venus
Room 30 – 6.30pm & 7.30pm
Looking at the whole life of this notorious painting, from it's creation in Italy to the looks it garners in the gallery, the piece will explore the power of the male gaze and the violence this painting has attracted. Through four vignettes different moments in the painting’s life will be explored: Diego Velazquez's forgotten subject; the century where it hung in private rooms in Rokeby Park; suffragette Mary Richardson's infamous attack on the painting and the men (and women) left gazing at it in the gallery.
Cast:
- Monica Leon - Venus
- Juliet Mann - Venus
- Hana Fukui - Rokeby's Visitor, Mary Richardson
- Bradley Shore - Diego Velazquez, Man
- Jack Piggott - J.B.S Morritt, Man
Witches at Their Incantations
Room 32 – 7pm & 8pm
This devised piece playfully puts the stereotype of the European witch on trial. Incorporating themes of religion, medicine, patriarchy, and persecution, this series of ritualistic tableaux challenges the depictions of womanhood throughout history using historical and contemporary texts in conversation with Salvator Rosa’s “Witches at Their Incantations.”
Created and performed by Olivia Cole, Alexander Knott, Kelleen Moriarty, Eliott Malhotra, and Elijah Olukoya
Tickets for this event are free.
Places are limited and available on a first come, first served basis.
Please arrive in good time to access the building and find the meeting place in the advertised room.
Please note that this event takes place at, and is organised by, The National Gallery.
The National Gallery, Entry via Sainsbury Wing, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN
