The Comedy of Errors (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama) @ The Swan Theatre
September 14, 2006
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
September 11, 2006
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
September 10, 2006
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 …
Richard III (RADA) @ The Swan Theatre
September 8, 2006
The third Youth production, and the most ambitious so far- today saw RADA take on Shakespeare’s second-longest play with a cast of eleven and a 1 hr 45 minute running time, along with projections, recorded sound effects and lighting cues. There was one major reason why this wasn’t very good- the editing of the text …
Much Ado About Nothing (Bristol Old Vic) @ The Swan Theatre
September 5, 2006
Not the phenomenal and sold-out RSC ‘Much Ado’ with Tamsin Greig and Joseph Millson- this was another of the youth productions, this time by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Again only an hour and a quarter long, and omitting characters such as Antonio and Ursula, this was a very quick-paced ‘Much Ado’ that tackled …
All’s Well That Ends Well (Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama) @ The Swan theatre
September 4, 2006
This was the first of the Young People’s Shakespeare series, of which there are five over the next fortnight- one off performances, heavily cut, each done by a different UK drama school. It’s a harsh deal for ‘All’s Well’ to only get an hour and fifteen minutes single performance when it’s a relatively little-performed play …
Troilus and Cressida (RSC/Edinburgh International Festival) @ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre
September 2, 2006
Firstly, thanks to the Edinburgh International Festival, there is a whole website of production photographs for this play, far too many to show here- you can see more at http://www.eif.co.uk/galleries/tandc2/?PHPSESSID=4c62742405b330dd95ccaedd678327a8 . This was, as you can tell from the pictures, a production that aspired to the epic. From the pre-recorded and lavish music to the …
King John (RSC) @ The Swan Theatre
August 31, 2006
I’d be lying to say that this is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. When Nos do Morro were invited to do a play in the Complete Works Festival, the only two left were ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’ and ‘King John’- and to them, there wasn’t even a choice to make. So, the RSC quite …
Henry VIII (AandBC) @ Holy Trinity Church
August 29, 2006
I arrived at Holy Trinity Church tonight and was stopped by a passer–by who asked me if they regularly put on plays at the church, to which I replied that it was a one–off for AandBC, the visiting company. This gent was quite disapproving of the use of a church for theatre, and I do …
The Two Gentlemen Of Verona (Nos do Morro/Gallery 37) @ The Courtyard Theatre
August 27, 2006
I’d been looking forward to this play as one of the more unusual productions– a Brazillian community theatre group, Nos do Morro, joining forces with a Birmingham urban youth project, Gallery 37. It was certainly very good– a young and energetic cast really put their hearts and souls into it. The large Chorus became walls …
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