Suppose you could summon the ancient muses?

Suppose you could extemporise everything from Pinter to Shakespeare?

Suppose making stuff up was just more entertaining than writing it down?

This thing of darkness
In the 16th century, the School Of Night was an arcane, underground sect of artists, thinkers, writers, scientists and spies, who some scholars believe wrote Shakespeare's plays.

Revived by maverick theatre genius Ken Campbell for the 21st century, the heretical troupe has risen to the challenge of Hard Bardics, improvising lost masterpieces, summoning the muses and channeling the great poets and playwrights of the past.

There are more things in Heaven and Earth

Meetings of the School of Night are unlike any other theatrical event you are likely to experience; in it, the Goader of the Rhapsodes assails his witting gang to explore the minds of poets, novelists and playwrights both ancient and modern, creating new works on the fly.

Method in the Madness

The goader is interested in the esoteric, the hidden, the obscure, so he might command the rhapsodes to embody the spirit of the muses, either ancient or modern; he might ask one to sing a song inspired by a member of the gathering; he could demand that an entire act of a lost Shakespeare play be performed.

Every night is different, everything is created on the spur of the moment according to ideas and suggestions proffered by the audience.

Lord, what fools these mortals be

Following rapturously received performances at the Royal Court, Latitude Festival, Shakespeare's Globe, the Bristol Jam and most recently Elsinore Castle in Denmark, The School of Night travel the world bringing their unique and hilarious brand of esoteric wordplay under the expert guidance of chief goader Alan Cox.