Bill Bryden’s Cottesloe Company, which flourished at Peter Hall’s
National Theatre, was the English theatre’s only true ensemble of the
last thirty or so years. Impossible Plays tells the story of
the company and the many actors and musicians connected to it.
Co-written by Keith Dewhurst, author of eight plays for the group, and
Jack Shepherd, a founder-actor, it explains the ideas behind the
company’s work and how the work was staged, and provides an
idiosyncratic, lively and deeply personal take on the company.
"The search was always to find a popular theatre, a form of
theatre that would draw into it people from all backgrounds, not just
the cultured and the educated."
Beginning with a Royal Court Theatre Sunday night performance in
1970, the story of one company's aim to create a popular theatre form
includes such milestone productions as The Mystery cycle of plays and Lark Rise to Candleford. With photographs by John Haynes, Michael Mayhew and Nobby Clark, Impossible Plays is a glorious and timely tribute to one of theatre’s most innovative companies.