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Henry VIII @ Shakespeare’s Globe

This review is of a preview performance. Amy Hodge’s Henry VIII is the first major mounting of Shakespeare and Fletcher’s play since Six: The Musical, in an era that has also seen a Black woman play Anne Boleyn on television, Thomas Cromwell become a leading figure in Hillary Mantel’s book/television/film juggernaut, and Shakespeare’s Globe stage …

A King and No King (Red Bull Theater) @ YouTube

While there have been no end of opportunities to watch Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream during lockdown, the plays of Shakespeare’s contemporaries have had rather shorter shrift. It’s a delight, then, that New York’s Red Bull Theater worked to bring together a stellar cast for a live reading of Beaumont and Fletcher’s incest drama A King and …

The Two Noble Kinsmen @ Shakespeare’s Globe

Barrie Rutter’s Northern Broadsides were one of the first companies to perform in the incipient Shakespeare’s Globe, and in many ways that company’s ensemble ethos, physicality and love of music make them ideal inhabitants of the outdoor amphitheatre. In his first production since retiring from Broadsides, Rutter showed no sign of leaving behind that company’s …

The Two Noble Kinsmen (RSC) @ The Swan Theatre

Just over a decade since I saw the RSC’s Canterbury Tales company offer a fascinating script-in-hand staging of The Two Noble Kinsmen, it was a pleasure to return to the Swan at last for a full-scale professional production, especially in the hands of Blanche McIntyre, fresh from a superb Noises Off at Nottingham Playhouse. While …

The Sea Voyage (American Shakespeare Center) @ The Blackfriars, Staunton, VA

I think I may be the first person to see two separate productions of Fletcher and Massinger’s The Sea Voyage within a couple of months of one another, and I was delighted to see that the play continues to hold up in performance. The American Shakespeare Center’s production was part of the annual Actors’ Renaissance …

The Sea Voyage – Dress Rehearsal (British American Drama Academy) @ The Oval House Theatre

I was privileged to be invited along to a dress rehearsal this week of one of this year’s British American Drama Academy productions, the rarely-staged The Sea Voyage. This is a brilliant scheme, in which troupes of young American actors work with professional directors and designers to create full productions, staged in the Oval House …

A King and No King (Willing Suspension) @ Boston University Student Theatre

The annual Shakespeare Association of America conference is in Boston this year, a city I’ve never been to but which is thoroughly stunning, and a great backdrop to some very stimulating papers. Being in Boston also gave me the opportunity to see in person the Boston University students of Willing Suspension, a young theatre company …

The Two Noble Kinsmen (Just Enough) @ The Dell, Stratford–upon–Avon

Writing about web page http://justenoughtheatre.wordpress.com/the-two-noble-kinsmen/ Another landmark! A little over five years ago, I saw an excellent rehearsed reading of The Two Noble Kinsmen at the Swan. Since then, I’ve been waiting for a chance to see a full production. It’s the last of the plays in the universally-accepted thirty-eight that I’d not seen a …

Rare John Fletcher at the White Bear

And another newsworthy story, as the 21st century premiere of John Fletcher’s The Wild Goose Chase comes to the White Bear in June/July. Definitely a must-see.

The Two Noble Kinsmen in Cambridge

Writing about web page http://www.junction.co.uk/artist/3329 I just found out about this (thanks: Mervyn Capel) – a very rare production of The Two Noble Kinsmen happening in Cambridge next week. It’s a student drama group, but even so, I’d be hugely excited to get down to this. Assuming I can’t find the time, though, please do …