Dedication

Patron? Collaborator? Employer? Voyeur? Lover? Questioned about the nature of his relationship with the 3rd Earl of Southampton, William Shakespeare is on trial. The evidence: tender poems, financial dependency, attempted revolution. A compelling new drama set in Elizabethan England - a powder keg of sex, politics and power - Dedication by Nick Dear premiered at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, in September 2016.

Nick Dear's plays include Dedication (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, 2016) The Dark Earth and the Light Sky (Almeida Theatre, 2012), Frankenstein (National Theatre, 2011), Lunch in Venice (National Theatre Connections, 2005), Power (NT, 2003), The Villains' Opera (NT, 2000), Zenobia (RSC, 1995), In the Ruins (Bristol Old Vic, 1990), Food of Love (Theatre de Complicite, Almeida, 1988), The Art of Success (RSC, 1986), Pure Science (RSC, 1986) and Temptation (RSC, 1984). He also collaborated with Peter Brook on the development of Qui est là? (Bouffes du Nord, 1996). His adaptations include The Promise (after Arbuzov, Tricycle, 2002), Summerfolk (after Gorky, NT, 1999), Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (after Molière, NT, 1992), The Last Days of Don Juan (after Tirso de Molina, RSC, 1990) and A Family Affair (after Ostrovsky, Cheek by Jowl, 1988). His screenplays include Persuasion, The Turn of the Screw, Cinderella, The Gambler, Byron, Eroica and Agatha Christie's Poirot. Opera libretti include The Palace in the Sky (ENO/Hackney Empire, 2001) and Siren Song (Almeida Opera Festival, 1994). He has also written extensively for BBC Radio, beginning with his first play, Matter Permitted (1980).