ABSTRACT
The modern history of Bartholomew Fair begins on 26 June 1921, when the Phoenix Society of the New Oxford Theatre revived it. Since then it has been popular for university productions (particularly in the 1950s and 1970s) and increasingly for professional companies. The Old Vic Company (dir. George Devine) performed it at the Edinburgh Festival in 1949, and again at the Old Vic in 1950, receiving mixed or entirely negative reviews, as did the Bristol Old Vic in 1966. The Royal Shakespeare Company (dir. Terry Hands) performed it at the Aldwych in 1969, with Ben Kingsley as Winwife and Patrick Stewart as Leatherhead. This production, criticised for its raucous horseplay and gimmickry, also suffered from antagonistic reviews, despite praise for individual actors - Helen Mirren as Win, Alan Howard as Cokes, and Lila Kaye as Ursula - but the most enthusiastic praise went to the puppets. The 1976 production for the Nottingham Playhouse (dir. Richard Eyre) set the scene in Victorian times and updated the fairvisitors' roles to suit. The Roundhouse period production of 1978 (dir. Peter Barnes) stressed the carnival festivity, the stage packed with stalls, gamblers, and morris dancers. The Young Vic (dir. Michael Bogdanov), also in 1978 but in modern dress, played up the darker implications of the fairground in a circus atmosphere of the big top, with a puppet having the last laugh in a final spotlight.
