12 Days of ... Day 1: The 1988 RSC Season

I try to keep this blog factual and report back on what I find and hear, so not to make it personal, but just before Alex returns to the National Theatre for "Hansard" I've been going back into my own personal archive to look back at the productions I have seen over the years. It comes down to 21 full theatre productions and a few other appearances. This is the first of 12 days of Alex, leading up to the first performance of "Hansard".

From the mid 1980s I regularly travelled to London to see theatre. I usually booked three RSC productions at the Barbican during my trips, sometimes to see a specific actor or play, sometimes I just picked random plays. In October 1988 I picked "Measure for Measure", "Taming of the Shrew" and "Hyde Park" for no particular reason. I didn't know beforehand that these were the plays Alex was appearing in that season. I liked the Shakespeare productions in the Barbican Theatre, and very much enjoyed Alex's performances. He managed to catch the eye and made me look forward to the third production.

Lucio in Measure for Measure

Lucentio in Twelfth Night

"Hyde Park" was performed in The Pit, the small theatre used by the RSC in London, a place where you would get very close to the performance. We were seated in the second row and I got to enjoy the romantic battles between Fairfield, played by Alex, and Mistress Carol, played by Fiona Shaw, up close. I guess this one persuaded me to try and see more Alex performances.

For more information and pictures of these productions check the AJ Archives.

Or the Shakespeare Birthday Trust pages for "Taming of the Shrew" and "Measure for Measure".

And Alex himself talks about the season in the RSC newsletter, autumn 1987.