Fresh from award-winning success with Glengarry Glen Ross and national press acclaim for Operation Black Antler, Robert Cohen is to continue his festival-season voyage into the heart of darkness with a one-man show about Hamlet's murderous uncle.
A punishing schedule has found the Brighton-based actor preparing simultaneously for three shows in the run-up to the Festival and Fringe: as part of the ensemble for the Hydrocracker/Blast Theory show Operation Black Antler, as Aaronow in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, and as King Claudius of Denmark in his own one- man show Something Rotten.
The hard work is now paying off. Operation Black Antler, an immersive exploration of police surveillance and right-wing politics, was hailed as "serious and challenging" by the Guardian's Michael Billington, while the Rialto Theatre's production of Glengarry Glen Ross, David Mamet's darkly comic dissection of the American dream, received a highly-coveted Argus Angel award. "Robert Cohen fully captures the edgy neuroses of a potential loser", wrote the Argus's Barrie Jerram.
Now, while continuing his work in Black Antler, Cohen is preparing to launch a week of shows at Sweet Waterfront, play- ing King Claudius of Denmark, Hamlet's homicidal uncle, in Something Rotten. Written and performed by Cohen, with direction by Jenny Rowe, the show presents the events of the world's most famous play from the viewpoint of the uncle-turned- stepfather whose regicidal, fratricidal activities awaken vengeful impulses in his nephew-turned-stepson, Prince Hamlet.
Acclaimed as "masterful" by the Northern Echo, the show has also been hailed by the Argus as "both entertaining and intellectually satisfying", while remotegoat.com spoke of Cohen's "enviable ability to hold an audience's attention for a sustained period and have them hanging on his every word."
Check out a trailer below!
IF YOU GO:
SOMETHING ROTTEN
Jurys Inn Waterfront Hotel (venue 18), King's Rd, Brighton
Mon 30th May to Sun 5th May 2016 at 7.50pm
Tickets £8 (concs £6.50) at sweetvenues.com or brightonfringe.org
More at www.bobbycohen.co.uk
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