The Winter’s Tale (Cheek by Jowl) @ The Barbican: A Year On
April 24, 2017
Regular readers will know that I’m writing a book on Cheek by Jowl, a labour of love that will hopefully be out in 2018. It’s been fifteen months since I went out to Paris to watch the first two performances of The Winter’s Tale after being afforded the extraordinary privilege of spending a few days …
The Winter’s Tale (English National Opera) @ London Coliseum
March 4, 2017
I’ll be upfront that I am not an opera aficionado; if I remember rightly, the last opera I saw was The Marriage of Figaro about a decade ago in Birmingham. But The Winter’s Tale is a play close to my heart, and so a new opera version by Ryan Wigglesworth, directed by Rory Kinnear in …
The Winter’s Tale (Cheek by Jowl) @ Les Gemeaux
January 29, 2016
I was planning deliberately not to blog about Cheek by Jowl’s The Winter’s Tale. Not only did I see the first two previews, at a point when (even by Cheek by Jowl’s fluid standards) the show was still developing, but I also spent a few days in rehearsals with the company in December as part …
The Winter’s Tale (Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company/Fiery Angel) @ The Garrick Theatre/The Broadway Cinema
January 4, 2016
Kenneth Branagh’s company has taken up residence in the Garrick for a year with a fascinating season of new and established plays, some of which will be broadcast live on the same model as NT Live or the RSC’s Live from Stratford. The first screening, of Branagh’s own The Winter’s Tale (co-directed with Rob Ashford), …
The Winter’s Tale (Sheffield Theatres) @ The Crucible
October 8, 2013
I’ll confess to my heart sinking somewhat as the cast of Paul Miller’s new Winter’s Tale emerged onto a bare thrust stage in Edwardian suits and European royal military uniforms. Almost as much as Twelfth Night, The Winter’s Tale seems to me to have become stuck in an era that doesn’t seem to me to …
The Winter’s Tale (RSC) @ The Theatre Royal, Nottingham
March 29, 2013
In my pre-show lecture for this production of The Winter’s Tale, I talked about the notion that this is a play of two halves, reflected through the distorting mirror of the bear, which asks us to consider ideas of rebirth and circles (though the question of whether these are redemptive or vicious remains open). Lucy …
The Winter’s Tale (Propeller) @ The Belgrade, Coventry
May 5, 2012
Follow-up to The Winter’s Tale (Propeller) @ Sheffield Lyceum from The Bardathon A second visit last night to Propeller’s The Winter’s Tale, now in Coventry, both affirmed and complicated the thoughts in my original review of the Sheffield performance. Once more, the play combined some truly superlative performances with a joyous depiction of Bohemia. Thanks …
The Winter’s Tale (Propeller) @ Sheffield Lyceum
February 2, 2012
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 …
Comparisons
June 17, 2009
We’re nearing the halfway point of 2009, and by my reckoning I’ve seen about 18 Shakespeare productions so far this year. Interestingly, though, among those eighteen there has been quite a lot of repetition: three As You Like Its, two Othellos, two Caesars and two Winter’s Tales, for example. I’ve been trying to review the …
The Winter’s Tale (The Bridge Project) @ The Old Vic
Writing about web page http://www.oldvictheatre.com/whatson.php?id=47 The Bridge Project is a major new collaboration between London’s Old Vic and New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music. Bringing together the best of English and American talent, the Project will be offering three seasons of Shakespeare and Chekov, with plays paired thematically. For this opening season, directed by Sam …
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