A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Footsbarn) @ Tocil Field, University of Warwick
June 26, 2008
Footsbarn Theatre are a theatre troupe in the most traditional sense, touring in caravans and performing in their own ‘Big Top’-style tent. Formed in Cornwall in the 1970s, though now based in France, the company is truly international, representing a wide range of performance styles, languages and visual symbols. Their current carnivalesque production of A …
A Midsummer Night’s Dream @ Shakespeare’s Globe
June 25, 2008
It’s quite frustrating, on an afternoon when you know you’re going to have to leave a performance five minutes early, when the show begins with a five minute drum duet between two competing musicians. However, this was very much my fault rather than the Globe’s – I had squeezed this production in immediately before a …
The Tempest (Warwick Students’ Art Festival) @ University of Warwick Piazza
June 24, 2008
This pared-down version of The Tempest was the first of two Shakespeare production in the 2008 Warwick Student Arts Festival. Its novel setting, in the mock classical amphitheatre of the University of Warwick’s Piazza, combined with a sunny Monday afternoon to create a festive atmosphere for what was essentially an exhibition piece, Shakespeare for Shakespeare’s …
Macbeth (WUDS) @ Warwick Arts Centre
June 22, 2008
Warwick University Drama Society’s new studio production of Macbeth was an ambitious endeavour, both technically and conceptually. The stage was dominated by a huge static-filled screen at the rear, while the space itself was filled with black flats and five hanging banners with the names of Macbeth, Banquo, Macduff, Duncan and Malcolm running from ceiling …
King Lear @ Shakespeare’s Globe
June 2, 2008
Putting on a tragedy at the Globe is a substantial challenge. The space, open to the elements and with much of the audience standing only feet away from the actors, invites laughter and participation rather than sober reflection or sadness. It is testament to the strengths of Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole and his team, then, …
Troilus and Cressida (Cheek by Jowl) @ The Barbican
Cheek by Jowl’s new English-language production, Troilus and Cressida, seems to be one of those that is already polarising people. In just the day and a half since I saw it I’ve already heard from people who loved it and others who loathed it, and the reviews ranged from Michael Billington’s 4-star praise in the …
The Taming of the Shrew (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre
May 28, 2008
Irish director Conall Morrison made waves in Stratford last year with his violently explicit production of Macbeth, a flawed but compelling show that demonstrated his fascination with sexual abuse and the blurring of lines between dark comedy and outrage. It is little surprise, then, that this uncompromising director has been invited back to Stratford to …
Hamlet (SATTF) @ The Tobacco Factory
April 27, 2008
With only a short night’s sleep, and barely recovered from Black Watch, it was an early start for the Bristol train to catch Jonathan Miller’s new production of Hamlet for the Tobacco Factory. I should thank Carol Rutter here for managing to secure me a couple of tickets to a production that has sold out …
Romeo and Juliet (Northern Broadsides) @ Liverpool Playhouse
April 13, 2008
Perhaps the biggest problem with Romeo and Juliet is that it is so familiar to us. It seems to have formed most people’s introduction to Shakespeare in schools, contains some of the best-known and most-quoted lines in Shakespeare and, of course, was the basis for the most successful (and pervasive) Shakespearean film of recent times, …
The Merchant of Venice (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre
April 11, 2008
The Merchant of Venice has long been one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. I love the fact that the play can so easily and excitingly be used to confront so many issues: anti-Semitism, homosexuality, gender oppression, racism, child abuse and more have all been dealt with in productions I’ve seen. It’s also one of the very …
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