Shakespeare’s Cousin, written and directed by Jonathan Moore, explores the interrogation of Southwell by Sir Richard Topcliffe, the notorious Elizabethan priest-hunter and torturer who pursued Catholics during the reign of Elizabeth I.
The play will run at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington from 10–28 November, with Danny Solomon playing Southwell and Robin Kingsland appearing as Topcliffe.
Born in 1561, Southwell joined the Society of Jesus and returned secretly to England as a missionary priest at a time of intense persecution of Catholics. An accomplished poet and writer, he was arrested in 1592 and imprisoned and tortured before being executed at Tyburn in 1595, aged 33. He was canonised in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Moore describes Shakespeare’s Cousin as “an imaginary contemplation in six scenes”. While grounded in historical research, the play takes inspiration from the practice of imaginative contemplation found in the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola.
Through Southwell’s interrogation by Topcliffe, the play examines questions of religious persecution, artistic freedom, the lasting effects of the Reformation, and the relationship between faith and political power. The play also considers what it means to remain faithful to one’s convictions when doing so comes at profound personal cost.
Playwright and director Jonathan Moore said:
“I woke up one morning towards the end of Lockdown with the seemingly ex-nihilo idea of writing something about St Robert Southwell. I, like many others, knew little about him. Only when I listened to the wonderful Pray As You Go, did I realise this was his actual Feast Day! So I went to Tyburn that very day.
“Now a busy intersection of roads at Marble Arch, it is difficult to imagine the 100,000 crowd that gathered to watch his terrible public murder. I made an Ignatian imaginative contemplation on the event. The only thing that marks the deaths of all the martyrs there is an easily missed, single paving stone. This felt symbolic of how they and Southwell have been airbrushed out of history by the Reformation. That was it. I wanted to share his story.”
Shakespeare’s Cousin marks Moore’s return to Jesuit history following INIGO, his play about the life of St Ignatius of Loyola, which celebrated its tenth anniversary last year and has been performed internationally, with productions in countries including Ireland, India, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Indonesia, Australia, Spain and Uruguay.
Fr Paul Nicholson SJ, Director of the Jesuit Institute, said:
“Ten years ago, Jonathan Moore’s play INIGO offered fascinating insights into the life of the founder of the Jesuit order, Ignatius of Loyola. Now he has turned his attention to one of the first Jesuits to work in Britain, Robert Southwell, who opted out of the life of a comfortable Elizabethan gentleman and poet to become a hunted fugitive. Moore uses a form of imaginative exercise popularised by Loyola to explore the torture and trial that led to Southwell’s condemnation and execution.”
Ahead of the play’s world premiere, the London Jesuit Centre will host a panel discussion exploring the cultural impact of the Reformation and Southwell’s enduring legacy.
The event will take place in the Aula Magna at the London Jesuit Centre on Sunday 1 November at 3pm. It is free to attend and does not require a ticket.
Curated by Moore and chaired by writer and broadcaster Mark Lawson, the discussion will feature writer, Lady Clare Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, composer and broadcaster, Lord Michael Berkeley, the Revd Lucy Winkett, Professor Peter Davidson of Campion Hall, and Fr Dominic Robinson SJ.
Professor Davidson, Senior Research Fellow at Campion Hall (the Jesuit Permanent Private Hall at the University of Oxford), is involved in a major project to produce a new edition of the complete surviving works of Robert Southwell for Oxford University Press, part of renewed scholarly interest in the Jesuit’s literary legacy.
Shakespeare’s Cousin runs at the White Bear Theatre, Kennington, London, from 10–28 November 2026, Tuesday to Saturday at 7.30pm. You can buy tickets here.
