John Lyly's The Woman in the Moon - Rose Playhouse

Dom O'Hanlon
Dom O'Hanlon

Newly formed theatre company The Dolphin's Back will present The Woman in the Moon, an astrological sex comedy by Renaissance playwright John Lyly at the Rose Playhouse, Bankside central London from 16 September to 4 October 2014.

The production is directed by James Wallace, the founder of the company who has spent sixteen years working with Shakespeare's Globe presenting public staged readings of little or unknown plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries, as well as directing over fifty forgotten gems of Early Modern theatre. Bella Heesom will star as Pandora.

The Woman in the Moon was first performed before Queen Elizabeth I circa 1590, and this new production will mark the first professional run in 400 years of this neglected dream-play. The comedy mixes astrology, myth, magic and farce, set in Utopia, where Lyly boldly rewrites Genesis. In this version the supreme creator is female - nature herself.

Writer John Lyly (c1553 - 1606) was one of the most successful writers of his day with all of his eight surviving plays being performed before Elizabeth I, as well as at the indoor theatres at Blackfriars and St Paul's. As a scholar, wit, courtier, satirist, pamphleteer and politician he was one of Shakespeare's biggest influences for comedy.

Originally published on

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