Director Rosy Rowley and writer Stuart Green, on the bench at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, rehearsing with Summer Sonnets cast members and producer Maurice Crichton (arms folded, at the back). Picture: John Saunders
DIRECTOR Rosy Rowley and writer Stuart Green are the new doubles partnership for York Shakespeare Project’s tennis-themed 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?
New balls, please, will be served on the grass of Holy Trinity Churchyard, in Goodramgate, York, from Friday to August 15, with a rest day on August 11.
Should you be wondering “Why tennis?”, the game features in no fewer than seven Shakespeare plays: Hamlet, Act II, Scene 1; Henry IV, Part 2, Act II, Scene 2; Henry VIII, Act I, Scene 3; Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, Scene 2; Pericles, Act II, Scene 1; The Two Noble Kinsmen, Act V, Scene 2, and most notoriously in Henry V, Act I, Scene 2.
In that scene, the French Dauphin mocks King Henry by sending him a gift of tennis balls to besmirch his youthful reputation as a frivolous playboy. Henry responds by threatening to turn the balls into cannonballs to play a set as explosive as McEnroe against the French crown.
Ready to serve: Tennis fan William Shakespeare in York Shakespeare Project’s poster for Summers Sonnets: What The Deuce?
Now comes What The Deuce?, where summertime at the Goodramgate Lawn Tennis Club finds four doubles teams competing for the chance to play in a Wimbledon amateur tournament, whereupon partnerships and rivalries lead to sabotage and break point. Who has the advantage? Who is at fault? Will the score be love?
Cue further tennis puns aplenty as Rowley directs Green’s script that asks a new collection of ten characters to play out this new sporting and unsporting situation, where each finds a way to share a Shakespeare sonnet.
Pulling on the traditional and not-so-traditional Wimbeldon tennis whites for York Shakespeare Project (YSP) will be Alan Sharp’s Graham; Christine Bramwell’s Elizabeth; Helen Clarke’s Margo; Jamie McKeller’s Lionel; Stuart Lindsay’s Charles; Oscar Langford’s Harry; James Robert Ball’s Tony; Alexa Williams’s Belle; Sarah McKeagney’s Vic and Effie Warboys’ Chessie.
“Stuart has been wanting to write and I’ve been wanting to direct,” says Rosy. “I’d directed a Direct Approach play for Settlement Players – Night Secrets – so I just wanted to get back into it, and I suppose YSP have taken a bit of a punt on us.”
James Robert Ball, left, and Oscar Langford in rehearsal for Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
It should be pointed out that Rosy and Stuart tread the boards regularly in York, first meeting when performing in the York Theatre Royal community play Sovereign in 2023. “We’ve done a few plays together, such as A Kingdom Jack’d in April, and theatre is the thing that brought together as a couple,” says Rosy.
“We’ve now got one of those bricks on the wall at Theatre@41, Monkgate, where we both volunteer, that says ‘Theatre together’.”
Stuart and Rosy settled on 80 per cent of the sonnets before Stuart set to work on the script that weaves ten sonnets into the tennis plotline. “We’ve had great fun putting the story together with classic Shakespeare tropes and then putting them in a tennis setting,” says Rosy.
“We’ve crammed a lot into our 50-minute play,” says Stuart. “We have cross-dressing; mistaken identity; poisoning, revenge; lust; unrequited love…
Director Rosy Rowley and writer Stuart Green in the Holy Trinity Churchyard, the setting for courtly love with a difference in their tennis-themed Summer Sonnets. Picture: Maurice Crichton
… “and of course lots of tennis,” says Rosy. “What’s been really important to us is not making the sonnet just something they recite but part of a conversation, which is the case in all but two of them that will be done as monologues.”
Stuart adds: “We wanted to incorporate the sonnets into conversations in the play, thinking how could a sonnet fit with a particular character? The aim is that the audience doesn’t notice they’ve gone into a sonnet because it makes the sonnets really accessible by putting them in a narrative, where suddenly they make more sense.”
Not all of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets focus on romantic love. Death, political vexation, artistic rivalries, human flaws and the passage of time are significant themes too, alongside desire and love.
“We thought how could we interpret sonnets in ways that fit with our play, and the beautiful thing is that there are so many ways to interpret them, not just romantic love,” says. “For example, Christine Bramwell’s sonnet reflects her love for the tennis club and the game.
Belle of the ball: Alexa Williams playing the role of Belle in York Shakespeare Project’s tennis-punned Summer Sonnets: What’s The Deuce. Picture: John Saunders
“Right at the start of rehearsals, I had one-to-one table sessions with each actor to see how we could make their sonnet work with the character.”
Stuart adds: “I think it helps that both Rosy and I are actors because we know what each actor can bring to the part.”
Stuart and Rosy have been delighted by the response to this summer’s sonnet project. “We had 30 people applying to take part, which was a record number,” says Stuart. “Then 24-25 auditioned, and we cast ten, where only two of them – Stuart Lindsay and Effie Warboys – had done Summer Sonnets before.
“A lot of them are new to YSP. It wasn’t a conscious decision; it was just that they were the best to put themselves forward.”
Helen Clarke, left, Oscar Langford, Stuart Lindsay and Sarah McKeagney rehearsing with Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? script writer Stuart Green. Picture: John Saunders
One other new element will be the positioning of the actors in the Holy Trinity churchyard. “We’ve shifted it 90 degrees so that the Chinese restaurant, on Goodramgate, with its noises and smells, will now be behind the actors, rather than the audience,” says Rosy. Good decision.
Green by name, green keeper by profession, Stuart first wrote screenplays in his teens and 20s. “I wanted to get into films, but the chances were non-existent, so I became a green keeper, initially at Bushey Hall Golf Club in Watford, then went to college and ended up at Gleneagles for four years,” he says.
“Now I teach green-keeping: I’m a grass nerd! I used to be based at Askham Bryan, where I taught apprentices at the agricultural college. Now I work for Train Together, teaching green keepers and cricket, football and rugby groundsmen.
“There’ll be a groundman as one of the characters in our Summer Sonnets, Alan Sharp’s Graham. I couldn’t resist it! I’ve called on one of my old York Cricket Club contacts to lend us an old line marker – and one of my stipulations was that it had to be squeaky as they generally are!”
Helen Clarke, left, Oscar Langford and Sarah McKeagney rehearsing a scene from Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? Picture: John Saunders
Tennis gear will carry significance in Rosy and Stuart’s production. “What they’re wearing denotes their status at the club, whether it’s all white or not,” says Rosy. “There has to be a bit of a social statement in that.”
No tennis pun has been resisted. “We realised we didn’t have enough tennis innuendo at first, so I’ve had fun writing some absolute ‘tennis filth’,” says Rosy. “Now it’s unashamedly Carry On Tennis,” says Stuart.
“And of course we had to crow-bar ‘You cannot be serious’ in there too,” says Rosy.
York Shakespeare Project presents 2026 Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce?, Holy Trinity Churchyard, Goodramgate, York, August 7 to 15, except August 11, 6pm and 7.30pm plus 4.30pm Saturday shows. Box office: https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk/seasons/2e40b388-a069-4f16-bafe-30250ae8c13a
Lara Stafford in her Premium Eclipse Viewer glasses in readiness for August 12’s solar eclipse during the 6pm performance of Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? Pairs are available for free for Sonnets audience members
Not to be eclipsed…
ACROSS North Yorkshire, the partial eclipse of the Sun on August 12 will begin at 6.12pm, peak at 7.08pm and finish at 8.02pm. That day’s 6pm and 7.30pm performances of Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? will go ahead as planned, but do come prepared for the eclipse experience.
Quick question: Do sunglasses protect eyes in a solar eclipse? NO!The official advice is: Never look directly at the Sun.
Why? The Sun can burn the retinas in the eyes, leading to permanent damage or even blindness. This can occur even if your eyes are exposed to direct sunlight for only a few seconds.
Proper eye protection is the only safe option, not sunglasses. The only way to view the Sun safely – eclipsed or not – is to either project or filter the Sun’s rays.
Suggestion: Make your own box projector or acquire safe solar eclipse glasses. NASA also recommends welder’s glasses rated 14 or higher, to be found at welding supply stores.
Lara Stafford demonstrating the benefit of wearing Premium Eclipse Viewer glasses for August 12’s partial eclipse of the Sun
YORK actress, Physics teacher and Theatre of Science communicator Lara Stafford is teaming up with York Shakespeare Project for a special offer for Summer Sonnet audience members. “August 12’s 6pm show coincides with the solar eclipse: the best one to happen to the UK until 2090, with over 90 per cent of the Sun covered by the Moon,” she says.
“It’ll begin just after 6pm and peak an hour later, just after the performance. A £10 Summer Sonnets ticket has always come with a free drink, but to celebrate this cosmic coming together, we’re going to give out a free pair of eclipse glasses with every ticket sold for performances up to the 6pm show on August 12.”
Lara continues: “I buy them in for work anyway, so I’m just ordering a few more! It’s quite difficult to get eclipse glasses cheaply and guarantee they’re not fakes, and you can ‘only’ watch the eclipse with your eyes if you’re wearing eclipse glasses. So it’s an easy way for us to spread the eclipse excitement around York and spread awareness of the sonnets.”
Should you be wondering, a reference to an eclipse can be found in Sonnet No. 35, one that does not feature in Rosy and Stuart Green’s choices for Summer Sonnets: What The Deuce? So here is the quote:
“No more be grieved at that which thou hast done.
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.”
Still shielding their eyes! The Brontë Sisters in York Settlement Community Players’ poster for Underdog: The Other Brontë at Theatre@41, Monkgate
ECLIPSE glasses removed, Lara Stafford will be shining next on the York stage as Charlotte Brontë in Claire Morley’s production of Sarah Gordon’s 2024 play Underdog: The Other Brontë for York Settlement Community Players at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from October 13 to 17.
The plot? Charlotte Brontë has a confession about how one sister became an idol and the other became known as the third sister. You know the one. No, not that one. The other, other one…Anne.
Underdog presents an “irreverent retelling of the life and legend of the Brontë sisters like you’ve never seen them before”. This is not a story of well-behaved women but of the power of words, sisters and sisterhood, love and jealousy, support and competition. Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk/.