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Macbeth (Song of the Goat Theatre/ Teatr Piesn Kozla) @ The Barbican Pit

Writing about web page http://macbeth-thepoint.co.uk/ Last night’s production was informed, for this reviewer, by mimetic associations and intertextuality that bordered, at times, on déjà vu. It was the second Polish take on Macbeth I’ve seen in the last couple of years. It was also the second Macbeth I’ve seen this year at the Barbican, both …

Days of Significance (RSC) @ The Belgrade Theatre

Writing about web page http://www.daysofsignificance.co.uk/page/1/home Roy Williams’ play debuted as part of the RSC’s Complete Works Festival back in early 2007, and it’s a pleasure to have the chance to revisit a production I enjoyed so much the first time round. The play has gone from strength to strength since its initial short run, and …

Twelfth Night (Filter) @ The Courtyard Theatre

Writing about web page http://www.filtertheatre.com/ As part of the original Complete Works ‘Bardathon’, I was one of the few people lucky enough to catch the earliest days of Filter Theatre’s production of Twelfth Night, when it was still just a work-in-progress being tested out in the tiny Cube space. The finished version has been touring …

I’ll be the Devil (RSC) @ the Tricycle Theatre

I’m still due to write something less ‘highlighty’ about the Histories, but time has overtaken me. Yesterday, I made my first trip of the new year down to London for I’ll be the Devil, a new RSC commission by Leo Butler. I reviewed the original rehearsed reading of the production back in November 2006, when …

Richard III (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre: Highlights

The big finish! And, if I’m truly honest, it was a slightly disappointing end to the week. Not because of the company, who kept up the energy right to the end, but for two reasons. Firstly, Richard III is a play dominated by one performance. The wonderful thing about the Histories ensemble is that there …

Henry VI Part III (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre: Highlights

Still full of adrenaline from the ending of the previous part (God only knows how the actors were getting through the day!), I approached Part III with admittedly very high expectations. Happily, they were all met in a fantastic climax to the day. One of my main highlights of this production was Keith Dunphy as …

Henry VI Part II (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre: Highlights

With a quick note that the excitement really started as soon as I sat down and remembered that this was my absolute favourite part of the Histories Cycle, I’ll leap straight into my highlights: The entire sequence from the death of Geoffrey Freshwater’s Winchester to that of Geoffrey Streatfeild’s Suffolk was a theatrical coup. In …

Henry VI Part 1 (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre: Highlights

Arrived back in Leamington Spa at 12.30am after Henry V, stayed at a friend’s house (got a few hours sleep) before running for the 9am train to get back to the Courtyard for 10.30am. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, I wasn’t feeling my freshest. I mention this because the Henry VI trilogy are so amazing that they jerked …

King Lear (RSC) @ The New London Theatre

Trevor Nunn’s King Lear has been a thorn in my side for several months now. I saw it very early on in its initial run in Stratford and loved it, as my review clearly showed. Since then, however, the production has had a very strange reception. Frances Barber suffered an accident, causing the press night …

Invisible Bonfires (Rough Magyck) @ Warwick Arts Centre

I’ve accused productions and theatre companies of many things before now, but never before of being lazy. Unfortunately, that’s the crime Forkbeard Fantasy appear to have committed in their latest production, Invisible Bonfires . Some months back I reviewed their production Rough Magyck at the Complete Works Festival, a wonderfully bizarre site-specific piece investigating the …