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The Merchant of Venice (Habima) @ Shakespeare’s Globe. Part 2: The Production

Follow-up to The Merchant of Venice (Habima) @ Shakespeare’s Globe. Part 1: Outer Frame from The Bardathon It’s impossible to divorce context from production. Immediately after Dromgoole left the stage, still being applauded for his pre-emptive shutting down of protests, the actors of Habima emerged onto the Globe stage and called for a welcome, whipping …

The Merchant of Venice (Habima) @ Shakespeare’s Globe. Part 1: Outer Frame

Reviewing an event such as this evening’s performance at the Globe of The Merchant of Venice by Habima (Israel’s national theatre) poses serious ethical questions. If the review focuses on the entire experience – the preliminaries, the tensions, the various kinds of performance taking place both outside and within the auditorium – then the production …

The Taming of the Shrew (Theatre Wallay) @ Shakespeare’s Globe

"This is a sacred space" announced Salman Shahid, introducing Theatre Wallay’s Globe to Globe production of The Taming of the Shrew. For the first time that I’ve seen in a Globe to Globe production, a member of the company came onto the stage to introduce the play and the company’s honour at being here, before …

The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Two Gents Productions) @ Lakeside Arts Centre

Follow-up to Two Gentlemen of Verona; or, Vakomana Vaviri ve Zimbabwe (Two Gents Productions) @ North Wall Oxford from The Bardathon It’s been two and a half years since I last saw Two Gents Productions perform their debut show, and a lot has changed in the meantime. I won’t offer a full fresh review here …

All’s Well that Ends Well (Arpana) @ Shakespeare’s Globe

It is not unusual to note that, when adapting classical English texts that particularly deal with class systems and social hierarchies, from Shakespeare to Austen, the Indian caste system lends itself particularly well to direct translation. In Sunil Shanbab’s Globe to Globe production of All’s Well that Ends Well, the transgressive nature of Heli’s (Mansi …

The Bloody Banquet

I feel I should probably confess now that I’ll be making a rare journey to the other side of the footlights next month. I’ll be performing a couple of minor roles in Blood and Thunder Theatre Company’s production of Dekker and Middleton’s The Bloody Banquet. Thoroughly looking forward to this – there’s a great cast …

Henry V (Propeller) @ The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry

Writing about web page http://propeller.org.uk/current-productions/henry-v-and-the-winters-tale Propeller’s ability to create community remains unsurpassed. Raising money for charity during the interval of last night’s Henry V, their rousing rendition of "The Wild Rover" was bolstered by a good hundred audience members, gathered in a cramped foyer space around a couple of acoustic instruments. The camaraderie between audience …

The Winter’s Tale (Propeller) @ The Belgrade, Coventry

Follow-up to The Winter’s Tale (Propeller) @ Sheffield Lyceum from The Bardathon A second visit last night to Propeller’s The Winter’s Tale, now in Coventry, both affirmed and complicated the thoughts in my original review of the Sheffield performance. Once more, the play combined some truly superlative performances with a joyous depiction of Bohemia. Thanks …