A funny and compelling play written specially for RSC Associate Artist Paul Jesson, that movingly affirms the healing power of art and the healing art of theatre.
Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Sunday 20 July 2025, 1.30pm
'I was a pretty good Portia ... For my age. And being a boy ...'
A funny and compelling play written specially for RSC Associate Artist Paul Jesson, that movingly affirms the healing power of art and the healing art of theatre.
An actor takes a train to the West Country to spend a weekend with a friend who lives there. He recalls staying there one summer with his late partner Michael, also an actor. Glad to be alive but unsure of his future, he shares stories and his thoughts about Shakespeare, friends, his career and the trials of his own health.
Paul’s many roles at Stratford include Prospero, Henry VIII, Ulysses and Cardinal Wolsey in Wolf Hall.
Swan Theatre
1.30pm, 20 July 2025
POST SHOW Q&A WITH DAVID EDGAR, PAUL JESSON AND CLARISSA BROWN
Join RSC Honorary Associate Artist, David Edgar, in conversation with RSC Associate Artist, Paul Jesson, on Paul’s performance in An Actor Convalescing in Devon - written for Paul by RSC Honorary Associate Artist, Richard Nelson - and director, Clarissa Brown.
The four share a long history with the RSC. Clarissa was the assistant director to director Roger Michell in Richard’s Two Shakespearean Actors, which premiered in the Swan Theatre in 1990, with Paul playing one of the leading roles, John Ryder.
This conversation between old friends and colleagues will range from how Richard came to write the play for Paul, Paul’s illness and recovery, the process of working on a play that is very close to one’s own life, and so the need to separate the character from the actor, as well as using the actor to discover the character.
Free to attend, simply stay on after the show.
