Bedlam

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A new play by Nell Leyshon

5 September – 1 October
To book tickets online please click here »

18th-century London, noisy and chaotic. Bedlam - the city’s ancient hospital for the insane - is under the influence of Dr Sidney Carew for whom profit and lechery come before prevention or cure. But with the arrival of a lovely country girl and the appointment of a more enlightened governor, Carew’s inhuman regime starts to crumble, along with his own sanity.

With a cast of doctors, patients, poets, christians and cannibals, and set against an anarchic backdrop of binge drinkers and ballad singers, Bedlam is an asylum for lust, rage, comedy, song and romance.

Nell Leyshon won the 2005 Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award for Comfort Me With Apples. She will be the first female playwright to be performed at Shakespeare's Globe.

2010 Theatre Season

Please read the Important Information before booking.

Please note: whilst all seats are covered, the theatre is open to the elements and performances continue whatever the weather. Ticket holders are advised to come prepared for rain, sun and hot or cold temperatures. Water is available for purchase, and a free drinking fountain is available.

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Directed by Jessica Swale
Designed by Soutra Gilmour
Composed by Olly Fox

Cast
Jason Baughan Dr Carew
Patrick Brennan John
Daon Broni Billy
Phil Cheadle Dr Maynard
Sam Crane Laurence
Sophie Duval Sal
Christopher Godwin Samuel
Sean Kearns Richard
James Lailey Tom O'Bedlam
Danny Lee Wynter Oliver
Rose Leslie May
Kevork Malikyan Bookie/John James/Visiting Man
Barbara Marten Annabel
Joseph Timms Matthew
Ella Smith Phyllis
Lorna Stuart Stella
Finty Williams Gardenia
Jade Williams Nancy

Bedlamites: Charlotte Dodds, Alex Shaw, Jessica White, Chris Wynn

Musicians: Mark Bousie, Andy Robinson, Corrina Silvester

Perspective: platform discussion with Nell Leyshon, Jessica Swale and Tim McInerny (Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, Bethlem Royal Hospital, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust)
16 September 6pm

Signed performance: 24 September 7.30pm
Audio described performance: 25 September 2pm

Nell Leyshon in The Evening Standard » 17 August 2010

Bedlam performance schedule »

Patients and Psychiatrists »
Portraits in Shakespeare's Globe Exhibition.

www.slam.nhs.uk