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The Winter’s Tale (Propeller) @ Sheffield Lyceum

Writing about web page http://propeller.org.uk/current-productions/henry-v-and-the-winters-tale Edward Hall’s company Propeller has always been playful. Whether entertaining audiences in foyers, offering grand guignol torture scenes or turning Portia into a drag queen, the company has delighted in its own performativity. In doing so, their shows tread a fine line between the parodic and the emotive. While elements …

Macbeth @ The New Theatre, Nottingham

Just a quick note, for completeness’ sake, to say that I made it to the Nottingham New Theatre’s production of Macbeth last week. I don’t review shows that feature students who I do or will teach, but great to see the country’s only completely student-run theatre in action, and an interesting idea to set it …

Much Ado About Nothing (Mappa Mundi/Theatr Mwldan) @ Lakeside Arts Centre

Writing about web page http://www.mappa-mundi.org.uk/current-shows Expectations were set high by Welsh company Mappa Mundi’s self-description of its work: "gloriously irreverent, populist and accessible." A fun-loving Much Ado is always to be welcomed, and the setting – Britain between the wars, a culture where women have been taking on traditional men’s roles – offered an interesting …

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Filter) @ Curve, Leicester

Writing about web page http://www.filtertheatre.com/page/Coming_Soon/ Filter’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream marks the company’s second foray into Shakespeare, following its sublime and irreverent Twelfth Night. The company specialise in a form of deconstructed theatre, treating performances as “gigs” where all the machinery of performance – instruments, sound boxes, stage management, cast – are on stage throughout, …

Hunting Folios: Eric Rasmussen’s “The Shakespeare Thefts”

Title: The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios Author: Eric Rasmussen ISBN: 0230109411 Rating: Not rated One of the relatively unknown problems in scholarly research is – what do you do with the stories? Inevitably, as we research, we turn up anecdotes, gossip, juicy titbits which are simply inappropriate to go in the …

Hamlet (Ketterer’s Men) @ The Shakespeare Institute, Stratford–upon–Avon

I’ve recently been reading Marvin Carlson’s The Haunted Stage (2001), which deals with a phenomenon in watching and making theatre that Carlson calls "ghosting". This is, effectively, the outer frame which shapes what an audience experiences in the process of attending a theatrical event, the collective resonances carried by actors, buildings, texts, scenery, everything that …

Shakespeare on Film: An Encyclopedia by Marcus Pitcaithly

Writing about web page http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shakespeare-Film-Encyclopedia-Marcus-Pitcaithly/dp/0955686423/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1316959824&sr=8-3 In a year when Shakespearean film is very much back in the mainstream, Marcus Pitcaithly’s new volume, Shakespeare on Film: An Encyclopedia is especially timely. Pitcaithly’s assiduous volume is the most comprehensive survey of Shakespearean film yet undertaken. Running from Beerbohm Tree’s 1889 King John to Marianne Elliott’s 2009 All’s …

Othello (Sheffield Theatres) @ The Crucible

Writing about web page http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=whatson.production&ProductionID=1152 I’m not usually an advocate of celebrity casting. I didn’t see any of the star-name Shakespeares of the summer: Kevin Spacey in Richard III, Ralph Fiennes in The Tempest, or David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Much Ado about Nothing. However, I’m too big a fan of The Wire to …

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC) @ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Writing about web page http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/dream/ It is traditional to frame the main action of A Midsummer Night’s Dream within a particularly threatening Athens, allowing the comedy to stand in contrast to the formality and danger of the court. Nancy Meckler’s new production for the RSC was no exception. Theseus (Jo Stone-Fewings) was a London mob …

The Two Noble Kinsmen (Just Enough) @ The Dell, Stratford–upon–Avon

Writing about web page http://justenoughtheatre.wordpress.com/the-two-noble-kinsmen/ Another landmark! A little over five years ago, I saw an excellent rehearsed reading of The Two Noble Kinsmen at the Swan. Since then, I’ve been waiting for a chance to see a full production. It’s the last of the plays in the universally-accepted thirty-eight that I’d not seen a …