LESSONS IN LOVE: Byron's Don Juan
Byron's 'true story' of the young Don Juan tells of his adventures from country to country - and bed to bed. One by one Byron opens the bookcases in his library to reveal colourful illustrated maps as the story unfolds. Ian Frost as Lord Byron - and 14 others - tells it all! The scandal in Spain with its element of French farce, the black comedy of the shipwreck in the Mediterranean, young Juan nursed back to health on a Greek Island by a pirate's beautiful daughter - young love recognizes no language barrier. At the end of Act I Juan finds himself 'on the wrong side of the slave market!' In Act II our hero arrives in a Turkish harem - involved in the broadest comedy - when purchased by one of the Sultan's many wives. Next Juan displays courage on the battlefield, then catches the eye of Catherine the Great of Russia … finally a comedy of manners in English 19th century high society. Throughout, Byron adds his own ironic comments on life, love and the human condition.
The set includes the five antique maps, revealed at the appropriate time in the story to set the location and illustrate the action. The freestanding set and small amount of furniture adapts well to large meeting rooms, lecture halls, and Stately Homes as well as to small and medium-size theatres. Running time: 90 minutes. Shorter versions of 45 and 60 minutes are also available.
AN ADMIRABLE PIECE, ENTERTAINING AND AMUSING
Time Out, London
I BALK AT THE PROSPECT OF A ONE-PERSON PLAY - BUT I HAVE TO ADMIT I WAS
NOT JUST ENCHANTED BUT RIVETED TO MY SEAT
Hampstead Advertiser
WIT, REALISM AND ROMANCE... A VERY PLEASURABLE JOURNEY
Coventry News
'Ian Frost doesn't just stand and talk: he gets into character, an author still on a literary high, flush with his Muse and too excited to sit still - Byron in a private moment of glory, turning over his fantasy and his language and the work he's done and relishing every minute and every syllable and accent.'
HAMPSTEAD ADVERTISER, London, Sarah English:
'When actor Ian Frost takes to the stage, who needs a cast?
Single-handedly he impersonates a host of characters with dazzling
virtuosity. I am the first to balk at the prospect of a one-person
play - but I have to admit that I was not just enchanted by
LESSONS IN LOVE, but riveted to my seat.'
TIME OUT, London, Helen Rose:
'Frost performs the material with humour and energy - an admirable
piece, entertaining and amusing ...'
HAMPSTEAD & HIGHGATE EXPRESS, London, Claire
Armistead:
'Frost communicates an enthusiasm for his subject - and peoples
the stage with the weird and wonderful creatures of Byron's
imagination. It is a must for any Byronophile whose enthusiasm for
the poet does not extend to revisiting Don Juan in the original.'
CITY LIMITS, London, Susan Hayes:
'It is quite a treat, a verse adaptation, so the lyric quality of
the poem remains intact. Frost adds a compelling crispness to it
all. He is a wiry, watchable performer and a consummate story
teller at once relaxed and expressive.'
THE ADVERTISER, Croydon, England, Diana
Eccleston:
'Bill Studdiford has adapted Byron's work with skill and Mr. Frost
delivers the poetry with conversational ease and elegance. It is
Mr. Frost's great talent to create atmosphere with his voice ...
his vivid description of the shipwreck and subsequent starvation
of young Don Juan and the rest of the passengers sent shudders
down my spine. But there is humour, too ...'
STUTTGARTER NACHRICHTEN, Stuttgart, Germany, O.
Kuhn:
'Ian Frost knows the poetry of Byron by heart and soul and brings
him back to life. As the poet - who also comments on the
adventures of his hero - Frost uses different voices and accents,
suggesting many men and women, portraying both jealousy and
seasickness with total conviction - and a little irony.'
EVENING TELEGRAPH, Coventry, England, Demetrios Matheou:
'Wit, realism, sexiness and romance ... superb black comedy ... Byron
is a supreme storyteller and Frost does him proud - spellbinding the audience
as he takes them on the young Juan's voyage of discovery around Europe.
It is a very pleasurable journey indeed.'
 Lessons in Byron
I am the first to balk at the prospect of a one-person play - in my view it is remarkably difficult for a lone performer to hold an audience's attention throughout. But I have to admit that I was not just enchanted by Lessons In Love - at the New End Theatre, Hampstead, but riveted to my seat. With great humour and measured irony, Ian Frost unfolds the tale of the youthful gigolo, Don Juan, whose amorous misadventures result in him being booted across the continent by scandalized mothers, enraged fathers and cuckolded husbands. Lessons In Love demands from its audience what a radio play demands from its listener - plenty of imagination - but it is all the more effective because of it. Thanks to Ian Frost's effortless delivery and improvisational wizardry, you could clearly sense the heat, the despair and gnawing hunger of the luckless Don Juan and his fellow passengers, cast adrift for six days in a life boat after their ship had sunk. No gory details are spared when Juan's tutor, Pedrillo, is elected to be eaten by the others. Equally vivid is Juan's moonlit walk along Greek shores with the delectable Haidee and his awkward encounters with society toffs in a haunted English manor house. To say more would be to give the game away ... Lessons In Love is definitely a must for
Byron lovers and for those who enjoy a more sophisticated
evening's entertainment. Sarah English |
When
actor Ian Frost takes to the stage, who needs a cast?
Single-handedly he impersonates a host of characters from
this adapted version of Byron's Don Juan with
dazzling virtuosity.
LESSONS IN LOVE, Belgrade Studio.
THE infamous Lord Byron's Don Juan is a much neglected epic poem, in its day both admired for its wit and dexterity, and despised for its lasciviousness. What would be hard to dispute is that it's a thoroughly good yarn. Ian Frost's one-man show is an adaptation of this great work which captures its sly wit, realism, sexiness and romance, and the beauty of its language. With Frost as narrator and characters, we follow Juan on his gory journey in a lifeboat, as the seamen eat first the dog, then Juan's tutor, then die themselves after washing it all down with salt water. It is superb black comedy. Romance Elsewhere, we see him as a slave in a Turkish harem, a soldier in Russia, and an envoy cum courtier in England. But for the most part it is Juan the lover, seduced and seducing, beautiful and charming, innocent perhaps but with a rogue's good luck. The young Spaniard's relationships with women range from the purely amorous (and not a little cruel) to poignant, touching romance. Byron is a supreme storyteller and it is in this respect
particularly that Frost does him proud. With him verse does,
indeed, come trippingly off the tongue, spellbinding the
audience as he takes them on the young Juan's voyage of
discovery around Europe. Demetrios Matheou
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One-man
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