Pericles (RSC) @ The Swan Theatre
December 14, 2006
I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone who’s seen ‘Pericles’. It’s debatable, to be honest, whether I know anyone who’s even read it, it only surviving in severely corrupt or conjecturally reconstructed texts. It’s not a play which people seem to know much about (“It’s a Roman one, innit?”) and the theatre tonight, while bustling …
West Side Story (Stratford Operatic Society) @ The Courtyard Theatre
December 3, 2006
I haven’t had anything to update for a while- after the manic patches of the Autumn, there are far fewer plays on at the moment! Next week I’m seeing The Winter’s Tale and Pericles, and after that it’s Merry Wives: The Musical. I did, however, make one trip to Stratford this week, to see the …
Richard II (Berliner Ensemble) @ The Courtyard Theatre
November 19, 2006
Perhaps this shouldn’t have come as a surprise, considering the reception of the stark German-language production of ‘Othello’ at the start of the Festival, but I was very disappointed to enter the Courtyard last night and see so many empty seats. Despite just four performances, and despite the rearrangement of the theatre into an apron …
King Lear (Yellow Earth) @ The Cube
November 17, 2006
The final production of the month-long Cube season was the first of this year’s two ‘King Lear’s. Hi-tec and set in the near future (2020), this production translated Lear’s kingdom to the global business world, with Lear as a Shanghai CEO passing on the reins of the company to his three daughters. A collaboration between …
The Indian Boy (RSC) @ The Cube
November 11, 2006
This was the ‘big’ new production of the Cube- a new commission by the RSC, and a response to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. A new housing estate is being put up on some ancient woodland, and the builders find a mysterious Indian Boy in the trees. Knocking him out, he’s admitted to a psychiatric ward …
One Of These Days (RSC) @ The Cube
November 10, 2006
After waiting so long for a ticket, I’d have been disappointed if this play, a new response to ‘The Tempest’ by Leo Butler, hadn’t been at least entertaining. Fortunately, despite only being a recently-rehearsed reading of the play, it was absolutely worth it. The plot centred round an 18th century broken family- a protestant soldier, …
The Taming Of The Shrew (Propeller) @ The Courtyard Theatre
November 9, 2006
Yet another transport problem last night, as the line between Hatton and Stratford caused our train to be delayed by over half an hour. Thankfully we still managed to get in for the first line of the play, so didn’t miss anything apart from milling around in the foyer for a while! Propeller, tonight’s visiting …
The Phoenix And The Turtle (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre and Holy Trinity Church
November 6, 2006
The holy grail of the Complete Works, and one that cost me a great deal of time and money in order to get a ticket for! But thoroughly worth it, despite me not knowing the poem at all. The evening began in the Courtyard, with a talk from Michael Wood about the poem. Without going …
Twelfth Night (Filter) @ The Cube
November 3, 2006
While there have been a couple of work-in-progress events by the RSC so far (‘The Rape Of Lucrece’ and ‘The Two Noble Kinsmen’), tonight’s performance of ‘Twelfth Night’ was the first visiting company to be presenting their work in an unfinished format. This was directed by Sean Holmes, but as far from his flat ‘Julius …
Hamlet (Tiny Ninja Theater) @ The Cube
November 1, 2006
Last night was the event (as regular readers will know) that I’ve been waiting for for six months- ‘Hamlet’ performed by the Tiny Ninja Theater of New York. A 55 minute distillation of the play (interestingly, based primarily on the first ‘bad’ quarto of the text) performed by one man with an army of inch …
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