That Knave, Raleigh

Following their five-star show, I, Elizabeth, the award-winning Dyad Productions (A Christmas Carol, Lady Susan, A Room of One’s Own, Christmas Gothic, Austen’s Women, Female Gothic) return to the Elizabethan era. To the famous and fabulous Elizabethan explorer, sailor, dandy, and warrior, Sir Walter Raleigh. Elizabeth I’s favourite and James I’s knave.

This is a journey through the astonishing highs and lows of one of Britain’s most famous men from history. But there’s so much you don’t know…

Father, husband, writer, poet, adventurer, philosopher, soldier, tyrant, egotist, lover, traitor, alchemist, visionary, victim.

In a life spanning around 65 years, Sir Walter Raleigh achieved more than others might do in a hundred lifetimes. Over a decade in the tower and still he held power. The Huguenots, America, The Armada and execution. Is that the whole story? The final chapter of Raleigh’s life is perhaps the most daring, strange and utterly heart-breaking.

See the fall from grace taken directly from historical record, marvel at the magnetism of a man who seized every opportunity to create a legacy which spans the centuries and at every wrenching, exalting and personal moment, you will be witnesses.

Written and performed by Andrew Margerison (A Christmas Carol, Frantic Assembly’s Fatherland, Macbeth), and directed by Rebecca Vaughan (A Christmas Carol).

Created in collaboration with The Old Town Hall, Hemel Hempstead.