The Knight
of the Burning Pestle

“A blaze of life and theatre”
Télérama

Written by Francis Beaumont
Performed in Russian with surtitles
Running time 1 hour 40 minutes, no interval
2019

Cheek by Jowl reunites with the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre on Francis Beaumont’s subversive and darkly funny play within a play. The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a breath-taking comedy, hilarious and terrifying in its relevance to a post-expert world where everyone can be famous and anyone can write the story.

The London Merchant begins, a thoughtful drama about dysfunctional families. But suddenly, from the audience, a grocer and his wife clamber onto the stage and politely explain to the astonished actors that they are a little bit bored and wouldn’t it be better to cheer the evening up with exotic locations and a Knight – indeed their apprentice grocer Rafe is just the man for the job.

Rafe is duly arrayed as the Knight of the Burning Pestle and his chivalric adventures are played out while the domestic drama of the London Merchant struggles towards its conclusion, chronically interrupted by the grocer and his wife who surprisingly get highly involved with its gritty, unpredictable narrative.

Beaumont’s subversive meta-drama burst onto the stage in 1607, at a critical moment when theatre was threatened by a popular movement increasingly hostile to art and culture. A disturbing comedy centuries ahead of its time, it subtly asks questions all the more relevant today: what is art for? Who is art for?

Produced by Cheek by Jowl and Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre in a co-production with the Barbican, London; Les Gémeaux/Sceaux/Scène Nationale; Centro Dramático Nacional, Madrid (INAEM).

Tickets

Date	Location	Tickets
21–22 May 2019	Moscow, Pushkin Drama Theatre, Russia	Tickets
5–8 June 2019	London, Barbican, UK	Tickets
27 June 2019	Moscow, Pushkin Drama Theatre, Russia	Tickets
4 August 2019	Gdańsk, Gdański Teatr Szekspirowski, Poland	Tickets

Cast and creative team

Cast

Name	Character
Alexander Feklistov	Grocer
Agrippina Steklova	Grocer’s wife
Nazar Safonov	Rafe
Sergei Miller	Venturewell
Anna Vardevanian	Luce
Kirill Chernyshenko	Jasper
Andrei Kuzichev	Humphrey
Alexei Rakhmanov	Mr Merrythought
Anna Karmakova	Mrs Merrythought
Danila Kazakov	Michael
Kirill Sbitnev	Tim

Creative Team

Role	Name
Director	Declan Donnellan
Designer	Nick Ormerod
Lighting designer	Alexander Sivaev
Composer	Pavel Akimkin
Choreographer	Irina Kashuba
Assistant director	Igor Teplov

Previous performances

Previous Performances

Date	Location
16 January–2 February 2019	Sceaux, Les Gémeaux, Paris, France
13–15 March 2019	Moscow, Pushkin Drama Theatre, Russia
30 March 2019	Moscow, Pushkin Drama Theatre, Russia
24-28 April 2019	Madrid, Centro Dramático Nacional, Spain

Reviews

France

“Simple and wild direction… Diabolical tempo… Radical…A blaze of life and theatre.”
Télérama Read the full review

“Irresistible…A whirlwind anthem to theatre and why we need it now”
Le Figaro Read the full review

“Exhilarating”
Les Inrockuptibles Read the full review

“Virtuoso cast”
Les Echos

Russia

“Witty, joyous, never before have we seen such a collision of traditional and modern art!”
MK

“Donnellan grasps something in Russia that we, being inside, just don’t notice – this is why, as always, he hits the nail right on the head”
Rossiyskaya Gazeta

Spain

“Touched by grace…Donnellan gives free rein to the Russian actors, all magnificent”
El País Read the full review

“Pure fun, pure enjoyment”
ABC Read the full review

“Imagination and perfection”
El Mundo Read the full review

“A magnificent and versatile cast…Extraordinary”
El Cultural Read the full review

“Brilliant and festive…The audience melted with pleasure at Cheek by Jowl and its acclaimed Russian company”
Periodista Digital Read the full review

Nazar Safonov. Photograph: Johan Persson.
Agrippina Steklova, Nazar Safonov and Alexander Feklistov. Photograph: Johan Persson.
Danila Kazakov and Anna Karmakova. Photograph: Johan Persson.
Sergei Miller. Photograph: Johan Persson.
Kirill Sbitnev. Photograph: Johan Persson.
Kirill Chernyshenko. Photograph: Johan Persson.
Nazar Safonov. Photograph: Johan Persson.
The Company. Photograph: Johan Persson.
Kirill Chernyshenko and Anna Vardevanian. Photograph: Johan Persson.
Sergei Miller, Kirill Chernyshenko, Anna Vardevanian and Alexei Rakhmanov. Photograph: Johan Persson.
Agrippina Steklova. Photograph: Johan Persson.