Late 90s pop is always my jam so a musical that features it is always going to be a winner. The brilliant & Juliet is so much more besides as well though.
‘Best appreciated by students & Shakespeare enthusiasts’: MEASURE FOR MEASURE – Barbican Theatre ★★★
Greg Doran has translated the play’s Viennese setting to the 1900s, but while there has clearly been an imaginative attempt at a credible interpretation of the yarn, this production is hamstrung by too much mediocrity.
‘It’s a gorgeous way of presenting one of the Bard’s most quoted plays’: AS YOU LIKE IT – Barbican Theatre ★★★★
Director Kimberley Sykes embraces the playful text of As You Like It with a diverse and tuneful cast so at ease with the text that off-the-cuff moments and audience interaction are plentiful.
FIRST LOOK: Take a look at the modern setting for The Merchant of Venice with newly released production shots
Gold lame curtains, hoodies and hi-vis – we wouldn’t naturally associate them with Shakespeare, but this is the world of the new production of The Merchant of Venice, currently playing at Drayton Arms Theatre. Take a look at the production images, then book your tickets.
‘Never less than compelling’: MACBETH – Chichester
It has been a long time since the West End saw a truly great Macbeth so perhaps this is a chance for Simm and Kirwan to buck the trend with impressive performances that offer a different perspective on their characters while creating a potency in their exchanges that is never less than compelling.
BEHIND THE SCENES: Sneak into rehearsals for the bold new production of The Merchant of Venice
Have a peek at what a modern take on Shakespeare’s drama of vengeance, commodities, appearance and reality with rehearsal images from the new production of The Merchant of Venice directed by Alex Pearson. Book your tickets now!
NEWS: Lazarus Theatre announces Macbeth, Hedda Gabler & Peter Pan for 2020
Award-winning ensemble company Lazarus Theatre has announced their third annual residency at Greenwich Theatre with a 2020 line-up of three re-imagined classics – Macbeth, Hedda Gabler and Peter Pan – all with post-show Q&As chaired by MyTheatreMates co-founder Terri Paddock.
NEWS: Bold take on The Merchant of Venice comes to Drayton Arms
Shakespeare’s great drama of mercy and manipulation, The Merchant of Venice, is to receive a striking new revival by theatre companies Poetic Justice Productions and Wolf Sister Productions when it is staged at the Drayton Arms Theatre this autumn.
‘A show not to be missed’: MACBETH – Temple Church ★★★★
Performed on a vast traverse stage running directly through the middle of the stunning church venue, Antic Disposition’s new production of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Macbeth transforms itself into a psychological thriller.
Text of the Day: Sam Wanamaker arrives on site
One from the archives: In 1988, excavations began on the site of Shakespeare’s Globe and the occasion called for a symbolic moment.
‘Completely beguiling & emotionally true’: AS YOU LIKE IT – Hornchurch
The Public Acts programme produces another winner in As You Like It at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, community theatre at its absolute best.
‘Never think community-based theatre is just socially useful’: ROMEO & JULIET – Wherstead Suffolk ★★★★★
Deep under the trees, beyond Jimmy’s meerkat and camel enclosures lies a 1960’s beach: shelter, deckchairs and lounging teens, Mods and Rockers, Montague and Capulet.
Q&A video: Why Creation’s The Tempest is worth travelling for & immersing yourself in
After chairing events for London transfers of Creation Theatre’s The Pit and The Pendulum and Dracula, I was chuffed to be invited to see them on their ‘home turf’ in Oxford and host a post-show Q&A for their new gaming take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
‘We’ve had incest, time-travelling ghosts, necrophilia… & that’s just the past week’: Long-serving Shit-faced Shakespeare member Saul Marron on Hamlet
How many times can an actor get drunk onstage without becoming unemployable? As one of the longest-serving members of Shit-faced Shakespeare, Saul Marron has lost count – but it hasn’t done his career any harm. While starring as Claudius in Hamlet, he can also currently be seen onscreen in Gentleman Jack and The Current War. We caught up with him about his shit-faced track record. Time to get booking!
‘Tightly plotted & delivered at breakneck speed’: 10 Things I Hate About Taming of the Shrew – Touring
Armed with a glitzy jacket, a notebook and a whole lot of anger, Gillian English uses William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and it’s 1999 teen adaption 10 Things I Hate About You to explore gender roles in traditional and modern art and how they shape us as a society.
‘Quite literally roars on to the stage’: 10 Things I Hate About Taming of the Shrew – Touring
While most of us would probably be willing to admit that Taming of the Shrew is far from Shakespeare’s best, Canadian actor, writer and comedian Gillian English has gone a step further and made a list of everything that’s wrong with it.
‘Endless laughter & spontaneity’: SHIT-FACED SHAKESPEARE: HAMLET – Leicester Square Theatre ★★★★
I love the ludicrous concept of the Shit-faced Shakespeare shows. Having now experienced one first-hand, I can report that Shit-faced Hamlet is a genuine joy to watch, an evening of broken boundaries, teasing, audience participation, endless laughter and spontaneity. Highly recommended!
FEATURED SHOW: Critics raise a ★★★★ toast to Shit-faced Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Does drinking impair reviewing? We’ve rounded up the raves for Shit-faced Shakespeare’s latest hart-drinking offering: the Magnificent Bastards’ “hilarious” and “delightfully rude” take on Hamlet is now on at London’s Leicester Square Theatre. Time to get booking!
‘Carnival reaches Southwark’: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM – Shakespeare’s Globe ★★★★
Carnival reaches Southwark in this vibrant new A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with a lively cast &and colourful designs – and don’t get comfortable if you’re a groundling.
‘It’s all done superbly’: MEASURE FOR MEASURE – Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon ★★★★★
What Gregory Doran frames most brilliantly in Measure For Measure at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon is the is the central confusion of morality.