Peter Kirwan
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Shakespeare Poetry Hour @ The Underglobe
May 10, 2011
Writing about web page http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/lit_week_2011.cfm Just a quick note on a thoroughly pleasant event last night. As part of the British Academy’s Literature Week, Elisabeth Dutton (who did wonders with Hoffman last year) directed a series of snippets designed to illustrate interactions between players and audiences, drawn from the early modern drama and later. The …
The Honest Man’s Fortune @ Canterbury Christ Church University
May 9, 2011
I’ve remarked before now on a show I’ve been involved in behind the scenes, but never before on something in which I’ve acted. I use "acting" in the loosest possible sense, and the less said about my board-treading the better, but it was a pleasure this weekend to be involved in a staged reading of …
The Tempest @ Warwick Arts Centre Cinema
April 30, 2011
Julie Taymor has had a rough year. She’s a favourite director of mine – I love her Titus and Across the Universe, and she’s borne herself pretty well through the fiasco that has been (and continues to be) Spider-Man: The Musical. It’s true, too, that we need a good film of The Tempest. Derek Jarman’s …
Macbeth (RSC) @ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre
April 29, 2011
The first new production in the re-opened and redesigned RST is also the opening salvo of the RSC’s fiftieth birthday celebration season. Artistic Director Michael Boyd christens the new space with a production very much in keeping with his principles – no celebrity names but a lead actor, Jonathan Slinger, who made his name coming …
Cardenio (RSC) @ The Swan Theatre, Stratford–upon–Avon
April 24, 2011
Writing about web page http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/cardenio/ "Shakespeare’s ‘Lost Play’ Re-Imagined" runs the tag-line to this, the first full-scale new production in the Swan Theatre since its re-opening. The absence of John Fletcher (let alone Lewis Theobald) from this tag is perhaps inevitable given the RSC’s priorities, although both are fully credited within the wider publicity material. …
Shakespeare music on the radio
April 23, 2011
I get circulars sent to me from time to time, but thought I’d post this one seeing as it’s now the 23rd and, officially, Will’s birthday. Their words, not mine, so don’t come complaining if you don’t like the playlist! This weekend marks what may have been Shakespeare’s 447th birthday, and Classical 105.9 FM WQXR …
Bond (Taiwan BangZi Opera) @ The Hyatt Regency, Bellevue
April 11, 2011
You’ll notice that Bellevue is off my normal reviewing route. While attending the annual meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America just outside Seattle this week, I took the opportunity to catch a special performance by the extremely prestigious Taiwan Banzi Opera Company of Bond, its retelling of The Merchant of Venice. The scheduling of …
The Rape of Lucrece (RSC Studio) @ The Swan Theatre
April 2, 2011
The Rape of Lucrece was last staged at the Swan in 2006, as part of the Complete Works Festival. That production, directed by Greg Doran, was a relatively traditional reading of the poem, featuring five actors standing in a line with books in hand, each taking one of the poem’s “parts” and sharing narration. It …
The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory) @ The Tobacco Factory
March 31, 2011
Writing about web page http://sattf.org.uk/index.php?id=165 The Comedy of Errors is one of those few plays that fail to disappoint onstage. It’s inherently funny, fast, short and complex, and it’s hard to remove the basic entertainment value from it. However, the slew of Comedies I’ve seen over the last few years have shared what is, perhaps, …
The Tempest (Little Angel Theatre/RSC) @ The Swan Theatre
March 18, 2011
Writing about web page http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/tempest/ What a treat to be back in the Swan. I haven’t been inside my favourite Stratford theatre since The Penelopiad back in 2007, and it’s wonderful to see it looking (on the inside, at any rate) exactly as it did before the closure, albeit with more comfortable seats. The first …
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