Love’s Labour’s Lost (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre
October 18, 2008
Writing about web page http://www.rsc.org.uk/WhatsOn/5725.aspx Love’s Labour’s Lost is often regarded as a difficult play to stage, and in many cases can be a difficult play to watch. There are many good reasons for its long absence from the British stage, and modern revivals have to tread a fine line between clarity and dumbing down, between humour …
Play Without a Title (Fail Better) @ The CAPITAL Centre: Responses
October 6, 2008
Despite having worked alongside the Artistic Director of Fail Better productions for about a year, it’s perhaps surprising that this is the first production I’ve seen by that company. Play Without a Title, however, is special for a number of reasons. It combines the professional experience of the company with an all-student acting company (as …
Hamlet (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre
September 7, 2008
I have to wonder, in many ways, what is left to say about this production. Ever since the announcement, about a year ago, that David Tennant would be playing Hamlet in Gregory Doran’s new production of the play, the hype machine has been in full gear. Endless blogs, articles, debates, releases, the adoption of several …
The Merry Wives of Windsor @ Shakespeare’s Globe
August 26, 2008
So, finally, on to The Merry Wives of Windsor, the last of my three London plays this weekend and, in my opinion, the best. Not as inventive as Timon, nor as technically outstanding as Waves, it might seem an unlikely judgment, but Merry Wives did exactly what it said on the tin. By far the …
Timon of Athens @ Shakespeare’s Globe
August 25, 2008
After years of not knowing what answer to give, I recently finally decided that Timon of Athens is my favourite Shakespeare play. Structurally it’s fascinating, built in recurring circles of action that allow examinations of the varoius character types from a variety of angles. The language, as befits a Middleton collaboration, is suitably depraved and …
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre
August 22, 2008
Considering the RSC’s fondness for revivals (cf the recent Henry VI/Richard III cycle and the touring The Comedy of Errors), it’s perhaps surprising that this is the first time I’ve been to one that I saw first time round. Greg Doran’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was one of the better productions of the 2005 Comedies …
The Winter’s Tale (Globe Touring) @ The Bodleian Library, Oxford
August 19, 2008
It’s a busy week of theatre for me. I’m seeing the RSC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream tonight (first glimpse for me of the ensemble who are also performing Hamlet and Love’s Labour’s Lost), and I’m spending the bank holiday in London where I’ll catch the Globe’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Timon of Athens. …
Macbeth: Who Is That Bloodied Man? (Teatr Biuro Podrozy) @ The Square2, National Theatre
August 11, 2008
For two productions only, the National Theatre has opened a new space, the Square2, just outside the main theatre on the South Bank. It’s an odd space, a large flat open area with audience standing around on three sides on stepped platforms behind crash barriers on raked platforms. Only a low wall separates it from …
Henry VI Part III: The Chaos (Young Rep) @ The Door, Birmingham Repertory Theatre
July 13, 2008
It’s not unprecedented to produce one part of the Henry VI trilogy in isolation, but it’s an extremely rare occurrence and a financial gamble that few professional theatre companies can afford to take – who’s going to come and see just one part of a trilogy? Yet for their latest production the Young REP have …
Romeo and Juliet (Globe Touring) @ Coventry Cathedral
June 27, 2008
It had to happen in a week of open-air theatre. The sun shone gloriously on Monday for Warwick Student Arts Festival’s The Tempest, Shakespeare’s Globe cast a cool shadow over the midday Midsummer Night’s Dream audience on Tuesday and Footsbarn’s tent protected the crowds on Tocil Fields from the elements on Wednesday. It couldn’t last. …
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