A Dark Lady fixes its gaze on the puzzling relationship at the heart of Shakespeare’s late sonnet sequence and attempts to provide a voice to the elusive and mysterious subject of these verses.

 Delivered as a music-theatre duet by actor Graeme Rose and bassoonist Gretha Tuls, and drawing on two of Shakespeare’s sonnets 128/129, performance unpacks and scrutinizes an encounter between sound and sentiment, giving a voice to the elusive and mysterious subject of the Dark Lady sonnets.

 ‘He attempts to capture that ‘thing’ of beauty between them – weaving his woo in just 140 syllables – but she won’t yield so easily to his render. Instead she provokes a musical conversation through which an altogether darker truth is revealed.’

One of five pieces in development selected for the this week’s Pilotnight, co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and to be presented at The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Thursday, 12th July. 7.30pm.