July 2, 2006, by Peter Kirwan
A quiet moment of reflection
It’s the summer holidays! And there’s a bit of a gap until my next plays, so thought I’d do a quick summary of what’s been going on so far.
In descending order, these are the plays I’ve enjoyed the most:
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by Dash Arts
‘Much Ado About Nothing’ by the RSC
‘Twelfth Night’ by Cheek By Jowl
‘Othello’ by Munchner Kammerspiele
‘Antony & Cleopatra’ by the RSC
‘The Two Noble Kinsmen’ by the RSC Touring Company
‘Hamlet’ by the Baxter Theatre Centre
‘Romeo & Juliet’ by the RSC
‘Titus Andronicus’ by the Ninagawa Company
‘Julius Caesar’ by the RSC
Which seems quite odd when I look at it. ‘Titus’ was a wonderful performance, but it’s severity and lack of humour dropped it down my personal list, while ‘The Two Noble Kinsmen’, despite only being a rehearsed reading, was so full of life and energy that I ended up enjoying it even more than some of the main productions.
It’s been really good so far. The top four productions are all still fresh in my mind as some of the best theatre experiences I’ve ever had, and even ‘Julius Caesar’ was enjoyable– nothing has been actually bad yet.
It does feel like a Festival, as well. I keep running into the same people, the same faces, at the talks and performances, and everyone seems to be talking about the plays and events. I’m really disappointed that I couldn’t make it to the birthday celebrations, as by all accounts they were pretty special this year!
July’s going to be a quiet month, only three plays. August and September are a lot busier though, including some nights where I’m probably going to stay in Stratford, as it’s just going to be too much hassle to keep going back and forth!
It’s the histories next– first the ‘Henry IV’ plays, then the ‘Henry VI’ trilogy, and ‘King John’ in August as well. I’ve been studying these recently and never seen any of them on stage before (apart from ‘John’, but I was much younger and remember very little of it!)
Will post again soon!
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