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‘Julius Caesar’ and ‘The Tempest’ (RSC) @ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Two entries for the price of one today, as I’ve been back to see two plays that for various reasons I didn’t fully digest first time I saw them. Many thanks to our sponsors at the CAPITAL centre for transport and cheap tickets! ‘Julius Caesar’ first. The interesting thing about seeing this production again was …

Regime Change (RSC/BBC Radio 3) @ The Swan Theatre

The first excitement of today was getting the free programme and seeing the cast list. Not only were several of the best actors of the ‘Julius Caesar’/’Tempest’ company (including Julian Bleach, Mariah Gale, John Hopkins, Joseph Alessi, David Rubin and Golda Rosheuvel) involved, but for this event only the fantastic actor Henry Goodman had come …

Responses

The next ‘new’ thing in the Complete Works festival is the start of the Responses. These are new plays, reflecting Shakespeare’s plays in new settings and texts to reflect new concerns. I’m quite excited about these. While the traditional productions are great, I’m always excited to see how Shakespeare is translated into new forms. One …

A moment of excitement

Words cannot express how excited I am about this production….. Coming soon- Hallowe’en!

Cymbeline (Kneehigh) @ The Swan Theatre

Without beating around the bush, this production was simply breathtaking, one of the most complete pieces of theatre I’ve seen in a long time, and the perfect antidote to the sober and dull ‘Measure For Measure’ of last week. I’ve seen a lot of Kneehigh Theatre’s work in the past, but this was without the …

Practising Theatre with John Barton @ The Swan Theatre

This morning’s special event was a two hour workshop with advisory director John Barton and about 15 members of the current RSC ensemble. A packed out ground floor of the Swan Theatre watched the co-founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company take the actors through two speeches from ‘Henry V’- the Chorus at the start of …

Measure For Measure (Theatre Royal Bath/Peter Hall Company) @ The Courtyard Theatre

This show marked the first appearance of the Peter Hall Company at the RSC– Peter Hall being the artistic director who founded the modern RSC back in the day. There was therefore a lot of prestige and expectation behind this production, the first major non-RSC event to be staged at the Courtyard Theatre. It looked …

The Comedy of Errors (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama) @ The Swan Theatre

The last of the youth productions, and the only appearance of ‘Errors’ at the Festival, this was an excellent end to the mini-festival of Young Person’s Shakespeare, with a funny and fast production that truly captured the spirit of what is – I personally think – the funniest of Shakespeare’s comedies. This production was by …

The Tempest (Guildhall) @ The Swan Theatre

Firstly, it was really nice to see quite a few of the cast of the current RSC production of ‘The Tempest’ at this school’s performance by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama- it must be interesting to go and see a different take on the play you’re doing, and it’s nice to see actors …

The Rape Of Lucrece (RSC) @ The Swan Theatre

It’s a bit hard to know whether to call this an event or a production- it IS one of the fifty-four Complete Works productions, but as it was an hour and fifteen minute workshopped reading, it felt more like an event, a curio, than a full production. ‘The Rape Of Lucrece’, for anyone who doesn’t …