Knight of the Burning Pestle, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Francis Beamont's 1635 satire features t wo plays within-a-play , a complete shattering of the fourth wall from the very outset, and a simultaneous send up of chivalric romance and the English middle classes . One of the first mad-cap comedies ever to be staged,  The Knight of the Burning Pestle is resurrected in the historically authentic surroundings Sam Wanamaker Playhouse this December.

The play sees a citizen and his wife emerge from the audience as hecklers of a show called ‘The London Merchant’, which continues to run alongside their chivalric offering. 

Pauline McLynn, best known for her roles as Mrs Doyle in Father Ted and Libby Crocker in Shameless, provides the production with a familiar face, and superb comedy credentials.  The first complete parody play in the English language, The Knight of the Burning Pestle is not a Jacobean comedy to be treated with reverence -- but with its audience engagement, boorish humour and crude jokes (spot the phallic imagery of the title), it offer much laughter.