Passion in Practice began in 2010. Ben Crystal invited the director Daniel Winder and the actors Diana Kashlan, Laura Wickham, Natalie Thomas, David Hywel Baynes, Jamie Harding, Jaskiranjit Deol, Will Sutton, & Warren Rusher to a workshop at the Three Mills Studio, London.

In 2013 the explorations ramped up, under the direction of Ben Crystal, the company management of Warren Rusher, regular producing assistance from the actors Aslam Husain, Alex Boxall, Katrina Allen, Natalie Thomas, Will Sutton, & Marie Fortune (creatively producing on the British Library celebrations), text insight from Emma Pallant, movement direction from Jennifer Jackson, co-direction from Rob Gander, Nathan Markiewicz, & Alasdair Hunter, and the production management of Halina Stapen-Webb.

 

Who?

The PiP Ensembles over 2014-2016 were comprised of the following artists (names are hyper-linked where possible):

Diana Kashlan, Jennifer Jackson, Natalie Thomas, Katrina Allen, Suzan Sylvester, Claire Warden, Daiva Dominyka, Emma Pallant, Helen Foan, Marie Fortune, Saskia Smit, Joan Walker, Helena Puska, Joanna Rosenfeld, Hazel Askew, Emily Askew, Rowan Rheingans, Catherine Groom,  Taz Burns, Shannon Harris, Halina Stapen-Webb, Christine Shaffer, Eve Marie-Kung, Kate Bellamy, Rebecca Atkinson-Lord, & Hilary Crystal;

Anirudh Nair, David Acton, Alex Blake, Drew Ernhout, Ian Peterson, Adam Webb, David Hywel Baynes, Reuben Kaye, Nick Wakely, Thorvald Aagaard, John Hogg, Warren Rusher, Sean Garratt, Will Sutton, Solomon Mousley, Sean Hagerty, Owen Oakeshott, Aslam Husain, Matthew Mellalieu, Alex Boxall, Steven Kynman, Will O’Hare, Montgomery Sutton, Rhael ‘Lionheart’ Cape, RJ Foster, Max Davis, Hilton McRae, Colin Hurley, Rob Gander, Alasdair Hunter, Nathan Markiewicz, Salvatore Sorce, Mike Manganello, Richard Mackenzie, David Crystal, & Ben Crystal;

With collaborators The Askew Sisters, Sam Amidon, Daniel Hope, Annabel Arden, Scott Wishart, Adam Etherington, Jackson’s Lane, Jerwood Space, The Rag Factory, 47/49 Tanner Street, Finn Beales, Shakespeare’s Globe, The British Library, The British Council, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Savannah Music Festival, JLR, Taj Hotels, & the Sharjah Literary Festival.

The work was made possible thanks to the generosity of Graham Allen, Thomas Campbell Jackson, Andrew Fingret, Jake Kemp, Steve Urkowitz, Michael & Licia Crystal, Sara Crystal, Hilary & David Crystal, & Eric Rasmussen.

 

 

The Beginning

In November 2010, Ben brought together a group of like-minded actors, to explore the idea of a modern iteration of Shakespeare’s Ensemble. On the final day of the workshop we decided to explore acting Shakespeare on Film. Without notice, each actor was asked to perform something of Shakespeare’s writing that they knew off by heart. These videos are the result.

company

Filmed by Adam Etherington
With Ed Bowen-Carpenter & Hannah Richards

Directed by Adam Donneky