Bartholomew Fair Cover.indd - Stratford Festival

6
Ideas and Insights
costume sketch by cArolyn m. smith
ArcelorMittal applauds the artists, artisans and staff behind every
outstanding experience at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
A Kaleidoscope of Colourful
Characters
Bartholomew Fair is a brilliant satire of class and
character in Jacobean London. But far from
being bitter, it is a very warm and deliciously
funny argument for tolerance. This warmth and
inclusiveness, this humanity, have made me fall in
love with the play.
Ben Jonson was a deeply ambiguous individual.
He aspired to be the court poet and moral arbiter
of the age, yet his plays document the life of the
grittiest aspect of the criminal class. He himself killed
a fellow actor during a fight on the street. This was a
man who was full of life, and his plays demonstrate
that vibrancy. His love of language mirrored the
contradictions in his character. Jonson believed
personal corruption bled into one’s grammar and
speech. Consequently, while he was capable of
writing beautifully lyrical passages, his special talent
was to write the most hilariously tortured syntax and
scatological invective ever created.
This is an amazingly detailed and complex work –
yet it gives the reader or audience member a feeling
of chaotic improvisation. It is like a kaleidoscope in
that it moves a group of extraordinarily colourful
characters into a seemingly infinite number of
groupings. These movements break up the normal
societal cliques and expose the individuals to new
influences, opportunities and temptations. We
thereby discover the truth at the heart of them all.
Antoni cimolino
Director