17/08/2026
Good luck to the company of Goodnight Mr Tom who open tonight. We know it will be amazing as we got a couple of sneak peeks whilst we were there!
It's tradition that the outgoing company write a poem for the incoming company and leaves it on the board, so here was our effort.
A Poem for the company of Goodnight Mister Tom
Our week upon the cliff is over,
the daggers wiped, the togas creased,
we came, we saw, we conquered Cornwall
(and killed off half the cast, at least)!
It ends, of course, in blood and battle,
in ghosts and grief and civil war.
A fairly weighty week, all told…
which brings us, gently, to your door.
For yours is something softer, kinder:
no emperors, no blades, no Rome,
a frightened boy, an English village,
an old man, and the makings of a home
The skies laid on some omens for us:
an eclipse, a shooting star at night.
In Rome, such signs meant blood and trouble…
for you, we think, they'll read as light.
Look up. There's one light left still burning,
true-fixed, and steady, framed in blue:
the same the sailors steered their ships by,
the same the leaving players knew.
So goodnight, Mister Tom. Sleep easy.
The stage is yours now; hold it tight.
May the magic of the Minack guide you,
and the North Star see you through the night.
From the cast & crew of ‘Julius Caesar’
Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company
