About Jesus College/
Jesus College Shakespeare Project

The Jesus College Shakespeare Project is a collaboration between the Access and Development teams of Jesus College, and aims to bring Shakespeare’s work to younger and broader audiences, as well as to present performances for the College and university community and as part of our alumni events programme.

The plays are performed three times a year in our 17th century Hall by students from across the University, under the watchful gaze of our foundress Queen Elizabeth I. The Project’s ambition is to stage all 38 canonical plays in roughly chronological order, concluding in 2034.

The cast of The Comedy of Errors, the first Jesus College Shakespeare Project production

 

Now in its fourth year, nearly 100 students have participated in the Shakespeare Project so far, from across the entire collegiate university. They have performed to over 800 schoolchildren, alumni and wider audiences. The Artistic Director is Dr Peter Sutton, Alumni Engagement Manager, and the schools’ programme is curated by Dr Matthew Williams, Access Fellow.

 

To find out more about the Project and its origins, click here to read an interview with Peter Sutton for the Isis Magazine in January 2024.

We are especially grateful to Jesus alumni Julie Bowdler (1975, Biochemistry) and Bill Parker (1966, Geography), as well as ‘A. C.’, an anonymous donor, for their generous support towards the Project.

The review quotations on this page are from BAFTA award-winning producer Peter Kessler MBE’s blog, The President’s Husband’s Drama Reviews.


Group of young adults standing and sitting in rows smiling

The Jesus College Shakespeare Project cast of Henry VI, part three.

FORTHCOMING PRODUCTIONS & AUDITIONS

Coming Next


LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST

29th & 30th November 2024

Shakespeare’s sparkling comedy relocates to 1970s Oxford, as part of Jesus College’s celebrations of 50 years of co-education at Oxford.

Four young men – desperate to achieve everlasting fame – swear to dedicate themselves to their three years of study at Navarre College, Oxford, in which time they plan to keep their sexual urges at bay by not interacting with any women. However, when the college admits the Princess of France and her female friends, will their oaths stand? And who will come out on top in the ensuing battle of the sexes?

TICKETS ARE NOW SOLD OUT. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO ADD YOUR NAME TO THE WAITING LIST.

SAVE THE DATE

Future Performances


ROMEO AND JULIET

Performances on 21st & 22nd February 2025

Followed by a tour of Welsh schools in March 2025

 

AUDITION INFORMATION (Deadline: Sunday 1 December 2024 at 23:59)

1) Please fill in the audition form.

2) Send a self-tape of you performing any TWO of the SIX speeches in this Google Doc to peter.sutton@jesus.ox.ac.uk.

 

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Performances on 16th & 17th May 2025

 

Past Productions

Cast of JCSP King John

REVIEW

“The Jesus College Shakespeare Project reveals King John to be not just a thrilling watch, replete with betrayal, murder, battles and unexpected twists, but also stylistically and thematically in step with our own cynical age.”

“As ever, the Jesus College company members deliver their lines with a degree of clarity, pace and perception that would leave many a professional troupe blushing. From the humblest messenger to the lead role, the verse-speaking is so immaculate that it makes you realise why experts go on about it so much. Basically, if you do it right, everyone can understand what you’re talking about, and these actors do it so right.” 

CAST

LADY FAULCONBRIDGE                Deborah Acheampong

QUEEN ELINOR                                Antonia Anstatt

DAUPHIN                                          Arthur Bellamy

MAYOR OF ANGIERS                       Emily Cullinan

CONSTANCE                                    Helen Dallas

LORD MELUN                                   Joseph Downing

EARL OF SALISBURY                        Gilon Fox

PHILIP THE BASTARD                      Ollie Gillam

CHATILLON                                      Isabella Hickman

CARDINAL PANDULPH                   Rijul Jain

EARL OF ESSEX                                 Louis Johnson

DUKE OF AUSTRIA                          Hugh Linklater

JAMES GURNEY                                Adam Najmudin Hall

MAYOR OF ANGIERS’S SECRETARY          Hetty Nicholls

KING PHILIP THE SECOND             Roman Pitman

LADY BLANCHE OF SPAIN             Emily Polhill

ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE            Gianluca Rabaiotti

KING JOHN                                       Alex Still

EARL OF PEMBROKE                        Edgar Viola

ARTHUR                                            Elouise Wills

PRINCE HENRY                                Nathaniel Wintraub (covered by Adam Najmudin Hall)


DIRECTOR                                         Peter Sutton

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR                   Geena Morris

WELFARE OFFICER                          Emma Haran

COSTUME ASSISTANT                     Maya Herz

ACCESS AND OUTREACH LEAD   Megan Bruton

Following its run in College, this production transferred to Solihull School Chapel as part of the Inaugural Solihull School Shakespeare Festival.

REVIEW

“Peter Sutton’s production, part of his ongoing Jesus College Shakespeare Project, conveys all the horror of Shakespeare’s original, and yet it never once descends into gratuitous violence. It is simultaneously graphic and restrained, shocking and thought-provoking, awful and beautiful.”

“This production triumphs not just at bringing home the beauty and terror of Titus, but also in underlining its contemporary relevance. The barely-believable brutality meted out by one sectarian group on another, the mercilessness of revenge attacks, the use of rape as a weapon of war… we have not moved on very far from the days of early Rome. This Titus Andronicus, with its honesty, openness and intensity, may not offer any hope for the future, but it draws the curtain to show the heart of darkness most governments and people seek to ignore.”

CAST

CLOWN                                             Deborah Acheampong (except Solihull)

AEMILIA                                             Antonia Anstatt

TAMORA                                           Leah Aspden

ACCORDION                                    Saul Bailey

DEMETRIUS                                       Ethan Bareham

CHIRON                                            Arthur Bellamy

FIRST GOTH                                      Emily Cullinan

QUINTUS                                           Jack Edis (covered in Solihull by Tom Allen)

LAVINIA                                             Kate Harkness

ROMAN CAPTAIN                           Isabella Hickman

AARON                                              Rijul Jain

NURSE                                                Hafeja Khanam

BALLAD SINGER                               Solas McDonald (covered in Solihull by Peter Sutton)

SECOND GOTH                               Rosie Morgan-Males (covered in Solihull by Emily Cullinan)

MUTIUS                                              Geena Morris

SATURNINUS                                    Tom Pavey

TITUS ANDRONICUS                      Roman Pitman

BASSIANA                                          Emily Polhill

LUCIUS                                               Josh Sneddon

MARCUS ANDRONICUS                 Alex Still

ALARBUS                                           Elouise Wills (covered in Solihull by Mae Lavender Forsyth)

MARTIUS                                            Nathaniel Wintraub


DIRECTOR                                                     Peter Sutton

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR                               Mae Lavender Forsyth

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR                               Rosie Morgan-Males

INTIMACY DIRECTOR                                 Sophie Cooch

DRAMATURG & CO-WELFARE OFFICER  Jules Upson

DESIGNER                                                      May Liu Cannon

CO-WELFARE OFFICER                               Emma Haran

CO-WELFARE OFFICER                               Niamh Jones

ACCESS AND OUTREACH LEAD               Megan Bruton

REVIEW

“All hail the Jesus College Shakespeare Project. In just over two years it has become an Oxford institution, a standard-bearer for high-quality Shakespearean drama, and a long-term social experiment. […] Why ‘long-term social experiment’? It’s because performing the plays in order, spaced out at four-month intervals, gives a hint of something that hasn’t been seen or experienced since Shakespeare wrote them: continuity. Not just thematic continuity, but also human continuity, both for the audiences and the actors. […] With the JCSP we can feel something of the mounting excitement that must have bubbled up when a new play was being written, irrespective of its reputation. For those old enough to remember, it’s not unlike the thrill that cinema-going audiences felt in the early 2000s when a new Harry Potter film came out each year. But better.”

CAST

GHOST OF KING HENRY THE SIXTH                               Tom Allen

THE DUCHESS OF YORK                                                    Antonia Anstatt

SIR WILLIAM CATESBY                                                        Saul Bailey

GHOST OF PRINCE EDWARD OF WESTMINSTER         Ethan Bareham

PRINCE RICHARD OF YORK                                              Arthur Bellamy

LADY ANNE NEVILLE                                                          Grace Bellorini

EARL RIVERS                                                                          Leo Bevan

HENRY, EARL OF RICHMOND                                           Megan Bruton

LADY STANLEY, COUNTESS OF DERBY                           Helen Dallas

LORD HASTINGS                                                                 Jake Dann

LORD MAYOR OF LONDON                                             Lauren Goralsky

SECOND MURDERER                                                          Emma Haran

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER                                   Kate Harkness

MARGARET BEAUFORT                                                      Isabella Hickman

BRAKENBURY                                                                       Carys Howell

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY                              Rijul Jain

SIR RICHARD RATCLIFFE                                                    Solas McDonald

PRINCESS ELIZABETH OF YORK                                        Rosie Morgan-Males

FIRST MURDERER                                                                 Adam Najmudin Hall

GEORGE STANLEY                                                               Hetty Nicholls

KING EDWARD THE FOURTH                                          Roman Pitman

JOURNALIST                                                                         Emily Polhill

THE BISHOP OF ELY                                                            Rowena Sears

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM                                                    Alex Still

QUEEN MARGARET OF ANJOU                                         Caroline Taylor

QUEEN ELIZABETH                                                              Ella Turner

GEORGE, DUKE OF CLARENCE                                         Jules Upson

KING EDWARD THE FIFTH                                                Edgar Viola

SIR JAMES TYRREL                                                                Elouise Wills


DIRECTOR                                                                             Peter Sutton

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR                                                       Ethan Bareham

FRESHER SHADOW DIRECTOR                                         Mae Lavender Forsyth

DESIGNER                                                                              May Liu Cannon

CO-WELFARE OFFICER                                                       Niamh Jones

CO-WELFARE OFFICER                                                       Flora Wilson

ACCESS AND OUTREACH LEAD                                       Megan Bruton

REVIEW

“Powerful, grounded, clear as a bell, the actors nailed this play with passion and dignity in equal measure. There were no claims of radical reinterpretation: it was about as ‘straight’ a production as you’re likely to see. But for one of Shakespeare’s less-well-known plays, simply watching and understanding is enough. The traverse staging meant that the audience, in only two rows each side, was close to the action, and we felt immersed in it.”

 “The overall impression is of a repertory family overflowing with mutual love and respect.”

CAST

KING HENRY THE SIXTH                                                    Tom Allen

THE DUCHESS OF YORK                                                    Antonia Anstatt

PRINCE EDWARD OF WESTMINSTER                              Ethan Bareham

EARL OF SALISBURY                                                            Alex Bridges

DUCHESS OF EXETER                                                          Megan Bruton

MOTHER THAT HATH KILLED HER DAUGHTER            Audie Campbell-Eby

LADY BONA                                                                         Josh Clare

EARL OF WARWICK                                                           Reuben Cooper

DAUGHTER THAT HATH KILLED HER MOTHER            Ella Craddock

QUEEN LOUISE OF FRANCE                                              Helen Dallas

FIRST KEEPER                                                                        Emma Haran

RICHARD (GLOUCESTER)                                                   Kate Harkness

LORD HASTINGS                                                                 Freddie Houlahan

BRAKENBURY                                                                       Carys Howell

LORD CLIFFORD                                                                  Eddie Laurence

RUTLAND                                                                             Olivia McQuaid

SECOND KEEPER                                                                  Adam Najmudin Hall

EARL OF OXFORD                                                               Hetty Nicholls

EDWARD (KING EDWARD THE FOURTH)                      Roman Pitman

RICHARD PLANTAGENET                                                  Aravind Ravi

CHAPLAIN                                                                             Rowena Sears

CHAOS (SPIRIT OF JOAN AND CADE)                             Jess Steadman

QUEEN MARGARET OF ANJOU                                         Caroline Taylor

ELIZABETH WOODVILLE, LADY GREY                             Ella Turner

GEORGE (CLARENCE)                                                         Jules Upson

EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND                                         Edgar Viola


DIRECTOR                                                                             Peter Sutton

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR                                                       Max Morgan

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR                                                       Jess Steadman

DESIGNER & WELFARE OFFICER                                       Lily Askham

CAST

KING HENRY THE SIXTH                Tom Allen

DAME WILHELMA STAFFORD       Antonia Anstatt

EARL OF SALISBURY                        Alex Bridges

SIMON SIMPCOX                              Megan Bruton

PETER                                                 Audie Campbell-Eby

DICK THE BUTCHER                       Josh Clare

EARL OF WARWICK                       Reuben Cooper

HUME                                                 Ella Craddock

MARGARET JOURDAIN                   Helen Dallas (covered by Ella Turner)

EARL OF SUFFOLK                           Jake Dann

CAPTAIN                                           Emma Haran

DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER           Kate Harkness

SIR HUMPHREY STAFFORD            Jonathan Honnor

DUKE OF SOMERSET                       Freddie Houlahan

THOMAS HORNER                          Carys Howell

LORD CLIFFORD                              Eddie Laurence

GEORGE                                            Olivia McQuaid

WALTER WHITMORE                      Adam Najmudin Hall

CLERK OF CHATHAM                     Peregrine Neger

RICHARD PLANTAGENET              Aravind Ravi

SIMPCOX’S WIFE                              Rowena Sears

JACK CADE                                       Jess Steadman

DUKE OF GLOUCESTER                  Alex Still

QUEEN MARGARET OF ANJOU     Caroline Taylor

NICK                                                  Ella Turner

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM                Jules Upson

MICHAEL                                           Edgar Viola

CARDINAL BEAUFORT                   Am Wyckoff


DIRECTOR                                       Peter Sutton

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR                   Max Morgan

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR                   Thomas Vallely

DESIGNER & WELFARE OFFICER   Lily Askham

REVIEW

“This production was deceptively simply staged in Jesus College Dining Hall. I say ‘deceptively’ because it seemed so natural in execution that the bold directorial decisions underpinning it made perfect and immediate sense.”

CAST

KING HENRY THE SIXTH                Tom Allen

REIGNIER                                           Alex Bridges

DUCHESS OF EXETER                      Megan Bruton

GAOLER                                             Audie Campbell-Eby

DUKE OF GLOUCESTER                  Rivu Chowdhury

DAUPHIN                                          Josh Clare

EARL OF WARWICK                       Reuben Cooper

BASSET                                               Ella Craddock

BASTARD OF ORLEANS                  Chloe Fairbanks

EDMUND MORTIMER                      Jonathan Honnor

DUKE OF SOMERSET                       Freddie Houlahan

GENERAL LUCY                                Juliette Imbert (covered by Caroline Taylor)

EARL OF SUFFOLK                           Sam King (covered by Thomas Vallely)

JOHN TALBOT                                 Eddie Laurence

ENGLISH CAPTAIN                          Olivia McQuaid

DUKE OF BURGUNDY                    Adam Najmudin Hall

RICHARD PLANTAGENET              Aravind Ravi

JOAN OF ARC                                   Jess Steadman

MARGARET OF ANJOU                   Caroline Taylor

VERNON                                           Ella Turner

SIR JOHN TALBOT                           Jules Upson

BISHOP OF WINCHESTER              Am Wyckoff


DIRECTOR                                         Peter Sutton

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR                   Max Morgan

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR                    Thomas Vallely

DESIGNER & WELFARE OFFICER   Lily Askham

CAST

TRANIA                                 Cosi Aslangul

CURTIS                                   Megan Bruton

BAPTISTA MINOLA              Rivu Chowdhury

BIANCA MINOLA                 Ella Craddock (covered by Lydia Free on Sat evening)

LUCENTIO                             Tijmen Dietvorst

GREMIO                                 Jack Edis

HORTENSIO                          Joel Fernandez

PETRUCHIO                          Michael Freeman

TAILOR                                  Jonathan Honnor (covered by Peter Sutton on Sat matinee)

GRUMIO                                Eddie Laurence

VINCENTIO                           Adam Najmudin Hall

BIONDELLO                          Thomas Phillip

BUSINESSWOMAN               Mitra Stainsbury

BAPTISTA’S PA                      Myfanwy Taylor-Bean

KATHERINE MINOLA          Harriet Thomas

WIDOW                                Chen Xu


DIRECTOR                             Peter Sutton

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR        Vanessa Silva

CAST

TURIO                                    Gabriel Blackwell

LAUNCE                                 Megan Bruton

PANTHINA                            Coco Cottam

JULIA                                       Lydia Free

LUCETTA                               Imogen Front

PROTEUS                               Sohaib Hassan

SPEED                                     Alex Hopkins-McQuillan

SIR EGLAMOUR                    Edward McLaren

THIRD OUTLAW                  Max Morgan

FIRST OUTLAW                    Adam Najmudin Hall

SECOND OUTLAW             Hetty Nicholls

HOST                                      Jaya Rana

SINGER                                   Emma Starbuck

DUKE OF MILAN                  Alex Still

SINGER                                   Peter Sutton

SILVIA                                     Caroline Taylor

VALENTINE                           Daniel Wilkinson

ANTONIA                             Chen Xu


DIRECTOR                             Peter Sutton

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR        Vanessa Silva

 

CAST

LUCIANA                                           Robyn Allen

LUCE                                                   Nora Baker

OFFICER                                             Rebecca Barton (covered by Peter Sutton)

DROMIO OF EPHESUS                     Megan Bruton

DR PINCH                                          Samir Chitnavis

COURTESAN                                     Chloe Fairbanks

ANGELO                                            Joel Fernandez

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE                  Alice Kenny

EGEON                                               Edward McLaren

JAILER                                                 Angus Millard

BALTHASAR                                      Max Morgan

DUKE SOLINUS                                 Syren Singh

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS             Alex Still

ADRIANA                                          Caroline Taylor

LOANSHARK                                    Josh Taylor

ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE          Sam Thomas

ABBESS EMILIA                                  Chen Xu


DIRECTOR                                         Peter Sutton

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR                    Niky Pasolini

COMPOSER                                       Niky Pasolini