Theatre
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Vladek Sheybal in an as yet unidentified role [1] ± |
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Please Note:
- This section is not yet complete; in some cases dates and/or venues/character names are missing.
- Polish theatre appearances are not yet included.
- My thanks to Artur Patek for his help with parts of this section.
1960
Passenger without Luggage (Ch. Lead)
By: Anhuille
Venue: London
1963
Nathan der Wijze (Ch. unknown)
By: (unknown)
Venue: (unknown)
1964
He Who Gets Slapped (Ch. unknown)
By: (unknown)
Venue: (unknown)
The Cloud (Ch. unknown)
By: (unknown)
Venue: (unknown)
1973
Mahler (Ch. Gustav Mahler)
By: Maurice Rowdon
Venue: Arts Theatre, London
1977
Salome (Ch. Herod)
By: Oscar Wilde
Venue: Roundhouse Theatre, London
Variations on The Merchant of Venice (Ch. Shylock)
By: William Shakespeare
Venue: Open Space Theatre, London
1978
Emigrees (Ch. Lead)
By: Mrozak
Venue: London
1979
Korchak (Ch. Korchak)
Directed by: Alexander Ford
Venue: English Theatre, Copenhagen
1988
The Eagle and the Serpent (Ch. Friedrich Nietzsche)
By: Pierre Bourgeade
Venue: (unknown)
This production was Vladek's final theatre appearance
Undated Appearances:
Human Roundabout (One Man Show)
By: Vladek Sheybal. Venue: (unknown). Performs own songs
Touring:
With readings of poetry and with Conway & Garcia Musical Duo (flute and guitar)
Note:
In various documents Vladek mentions involvement in the 1989 production of Alma (Ch. Oscar Kokoschka & Gustav Mahler) By: Maurice RowdonVenue: (unknown) but there is no further information available at the moment, therefore it cannot be verified.
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Vladek Sheybal in an as yet unidentified role [2] ± |
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This picture [left] is an old newspaper advertisement for the production of 'Salome.'
Seen in the NME paper, February 1977.
Theatre News:
The Cherub Company, London.
In December 1989, Vladek Sheybal was moved to write a letter to The Cherub
Company, of whom he was a patron, in disgust at the critics' neglect in not
reviewing their excellent 'Duchess of Malfi' production.
The letter is reproduced here as it was written by Vladek Sheybal, and with the kind permission of Andrew Visnevski.
"It is a very sad fact that one of the most outstanding recent London theatre productions, The Cherub Company's THE DUCHESS OF MALFI last November, has gone almost unnoticed. It has not been reviewed by the national press. The critics did not come to see it. Was it too far to go to St George's Theatre in Tufnell Park Road, N7? Is it not their duty to write about productions in London theatres? A documentation of a production is a vital part of the history of the theatre.
Without it the work simply vanishes. Forever.
The previous productions by The Cherub Company have been outstanding.
I can sincerely say that in my entire theatrical life span as an actor and director in Russia, Poland, France, Italy, Germany, the USA and Australia, I rarely saw anything as breathtaking and so amazingly directed and team acted as their DUCHESS OF MALFI. Andrew Visnevski is definitely one of the most original and outstanding directors in English theatre. This is a play rich in emotion. It does not seem possible to "translate" it and make it digestible to modern audiences. Yet it contains the larger-than-life drama, colour and depth of eternal Icelandic saga. It is a combination of Shakespeare, Tolstoy's 'War and Peace,' traditional Grand Guignol, Lindsay Kemp's FLOWERS and Brecht. Visnevski made the play act run shout cry sing and dance with such full pace that the audience had not a spare moment to breathe. The action runs swiftly and smoothly, the scenes and the visual tableaux instantly converge or withdraw from each other. A simple set or no set at all can create magic in the theatre. Visnevski uses this notion to the hilt. Four vertical ladders and on the top a platform about 2 metres square at the back of an otherwise empty stage. Beyond, hang rich blue curtains split in several places so that the actors can move in and out. They play evocatively with the curtains. They look to the top of them as if they were reading them. They slowly touch them and cover their faces with them. They pull them to the sides and to the front of the stage. They treat them as columns, bedspreads, curtains, people. They hide behind them suggestively and bulge them in and out, up and down, in the movements of lovemaking. They swathe themselves with them. They climb with the dexterity of monkeys up those ladders wearing with ease their deliberately much too long coats. Julia for her love scenes voluptuously trails behind her yards and yards of light, red fabric. She plays provocatively with it, folding and unfolding. She does this with incredible ease.
There were moments when, being an actor myself and knowing the dangers on the stage of badly fitted carpets and spreads, I was petrified for these actors and then proud of them for their skill of walking and running in these movable masses of folds. All of this was done with great abandon and dramatic tension ... sexual innuendo almost splashing all around. I thought that I was not in an English theatre but at the Moscow Art, Brecht in Berlin, or at a Lindsay Kemp production. The main point of my admiration was the realisation of how the right director with the right actors can co-operate in complete abandon and sacrifice. They represented one unit and one body. They supported each other and complemented each other. They did not spare themselves, doing all jobs, acting, drawing curtains, handing each other the props. Visnevski has developed an amazing style with his actors over the years. They created team acting with great understanding. It would be a shame to let this company disappear - if Visnevski together with The Cherub Company were to share the fate of the Lindsay Kemp Company in whose unforgettable SALOME I had the honour of playing Herod, with brave Lindsay playing Salome himself. Lindsay was ignored here and emigrated. He enjoys his triumphant success on the Continent and in Japan. There they write about him as 'the English Clown.' Isn't it ironical? This should not be allowed to happen again to the talents and style of Visnevski and The Cherub Company. It would be a shame."
A brief introduction to the Cherub Company, London.
The Cherub Company, London - a "théâtre sans frontières" - was created by Andrew Visnevski in 1978, as an ensemble of young actors, designers and composers introducing rare classics and continental plays to the stage in a style that proved unconventional and brilliantly visual. The Cherub Company, London rescued from oblivion such plays as Calderon's LIFE IS A DREAM, THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN by Shakespeare and Fletcher and Middleton's A CHASTE MAID IN CHEAPSIDE; staged Michel de Ghelderode and award-winning adaptations of Franz Kafka, and took Shakespeare as far afield as the North-West frontier and Sudan! For almost a quarter of a century, The Cherub Company London has inspired audiences and artists, and established a reputation as a foremost innovative touring company, a pioneer and trendsetter in choices of repertoire and performance.
If you would like to visit The Cherub Company Online, please click here
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