Theatre / In a Nutshell: The Poetry of Violence, Bell Shakespeare. At The Playhouse, until September 14. Reviewed by JOE WOODWARD.

Every so often there is controversy over who wrote Shakespeare’s works.

Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon and Edward de Vere are sometimes promoted as being authors of Shakespeare’s works. Various writers since JT Looney’s 1920 book “Shakespeare Identified” have proposed that Shakespeare could not have been the sole author of his canon.

In a Nutshell: The Poetry of Violence clearly puts an end to such speculations. Peter Evans has sculpted a non-linear production of intense beauty that provides a vertical integration of Shakespeare’s writing to reveal the unique authorship stretching across a huge volume of disparate yet connected works.

In a brilliant analysis of how to successfully present productions of historically significant works, he makes a mockery of the age-old red-herring of “play it as written”.

He makes the point that a production must consider the original context of the play’s time setting, then the context of the era and circumstances in which it was written and thirdly the era and circumstances of the present time in which it is to be mounted. He uses very specific examples of how this works.

He demonstrates it in Shakespeare’s different social meanings for concepts of suicide dependent on the viewpoints of the different societies: namely Roman pre-Christian society and Christian-based societies and their very different understandings of suicide.

To achieve a highly entertaining and enlightening engagement with the audience, it required an exceptionally skilled and versed cast of Peter Evans, Lucy Bell, Madeline Li, Nigel Poulton, Jessica Tovey and Darius Williams. James Lugton replaced James Evans in the ensemble on the opening night.

Young students of theatre remarked on the amazing clarity and nuances achieved by the actors. And their observations were spot on! Evans pointed out how it takes time in a production for the audience’s ear to accommodate Shakespeare’s language. Simply letting the sound take you over allows the language to invest in the deeply moving content and relational outlining in his plays. This simple concept was very evident in the Poetry of Violence.

The dexterity of Jessica Tovey’s vocal skills really brought alive the extreme variety of characters she played. Tovey’s performance was a vocal masterclass.

The emotional depth of Madeline Li’s “To be or not to be” opened up the doors to being total present in the moment of a non-linear exploration in existential realisation.

Nigel Poulton’s sword play and explorations provided an unlikely but very direct connection with the audience; drawing laughter and interaction. His sections really highlighted Evans’ earlier point about historical context and the context of the time in which the play was written.

Lucy Bell’s ability to characters into the deeply internal darkness within the psyche of humanity revealed something of that vulnerable otherness that audiences are mostly unaware of.

Darius Williams provided that lightness at moments of contradictory violence. Blending a sense of ironic fun and potential devastation by spinning his characters on a pin, Williams was able to complement the various highly dramatic moments being revealed on the stage.

James Lugton’s very grounded and poignant moments focused us on that invisible body inhabiting even the most powerful of humanity.

In many respects, In a Nutshell: The Poetry of Violence exemplifies the very best that Bell Shakespeare can offer. Its educational value actually surpasses their productions of Shakespeare’s works; while also giving an extra validity to all that the company aims to achieve.

In a Nutshell: The Poetry of Violence draws attention to the deep necessity of rebirthing and then keeping alive that deep source of creativity that is associated with a tradition that goes back over 400 years of human exposition through theatre.