If anything, the resonances in Mike Bartlett’s Albion have grown and strengthened as countrywide divisions have hardened.
‘Meaty, emotional & funny play’: ALBION – Almeida Theatre ★★★★
Albion is a meaty, emotional and funny play with a superb Victoria Hamilton drawing out the complexity of Audrey, even if you don’t feel sorry for her.
NEWS: Full cast is announced for Albion at the Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre has announced the full cast for its revival of Mike Bartlett’s Albion, directed by Rupert Goold, running from 3-29 February 2020 (press night is 5 February) following the play’s acclaimed run in 2017.
‘Echoes through to modern-day instabilities’: HENRY IV PART 1 – Shakespeare’s Globe ★★★★★
Henry IV Part 1 is a fast-paced, fun production that speaks to our politically unstable times – a great way to start the new season.
NEWS: Shakespeare’s Globe announces details of summer season
Shakespeare’s Globe has announced its summer season 2019. The celebration and interrogation of ‘our sceptred isle’ through Shakespeare’s history plays continues with Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V, while elsewhere there is A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Ben Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair, and the return of 2018’s As You Like It.
‘Don’t cohere as part of an over-arching style or concept’: AS YOU LIKE IT / HAMLET – Shakespeare’s Globe
Though there are plenty of positive elements across As You Like It and Hamlet, they don’t cohere as part of an over-arching style or concept.
‘The play has worked its magic again’: AS YOU LIKE IT – Shakespeare’s Globe ★★★★
Here, in Shakespeare’s, 400 years ago, actors ‘conjured’ and beguiled their audiences. And so here, too, in 2018, theatre and As You Like It has again worked its magic.
‘A strong opening gambit from Terry’: AS YOU LIKE IT / HAMLET – Shakespeare’s Globe
A strong opening gambit then from Michelle Terry with As You Like It and Hamlet, and one which makes me quietly excited for her tenure as she further explores how inclusive Shakespeare can be for audiences both old and new.
NEWS: Casting revealed for Michelle Terry’s gender-blind inaugural season at Shakespeare’s Globe
Shakespeare’s Globe has announced casting for Hamlet and As You Like It, the opening shows of Michelle Terry’s first season as artistic director.
ALBION – Almeida Theatre
Albion has strong writing, intriguing characters and one barn-storming lead role. However, it is also flabby, predictable and clichéd so, despite its various strengths, it amounts to a frustrating evening.
ALBION – Almeida Theatre ★★★★★
Rupert Goold’s previous, James Graham’s Ink, went on to enjoy its present run in the West End. For sheer entertainment value, I’ll be amazed if Mike Bartlett’s stirring eulogy for a disappearing but not completely gone England and Englishness doesn’t go the same way.
ALBION – Almeida Theatre
Albion begins with Audrey, played with indefatigable energy by Victoria Hamilton, in the garden of her deceased uncle’s family home, deep in the English countryside. She has bought the property, which boasts a historic 1920s garden, now much overgrown, which a First World War veteran once formed into a pastoral paradise fit for heroes.
ALBION – Almeida Theatre ★★★★
Both Audrey and Anna’s behaviour hover often on the edge of psychological incredibility – especially if you actually are a woman – but then so have all the great tales from Medea to Lady Macbeth.