A return to live theatre is well marked by these vibrant open-air productions of Henry V and The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Roman Theatre of Verulamium in St Albans.
‘My favourite part of working in casting is meeting fresh, exciting talent’: Sydney Aldridge on the casting process for The Show Must Go Online
I’ve really admired the work of Sydney Aldridge throughout the course of The Show Must Go Online, so who better to talk to about casting and her experiences with this innovative Zoom theatre project?
‘All in all, yet another brilliant show’: AS YOU LIKE IT – The Show Must Go Online (Online review)
From Rome to the Forest of Arden, as The Show Must Go Online next tackles As You Like It.
‘There is a real ensemble feel to the piece’: MEASURE FOR MEASURE – RSC (Online review)
This is Measure For Measure in a production by RSC supremo Greg Doran and set in turn of the 20th century Vienna. It is and remains a difficult play to pin down but the contemporary resonances remain inescapable.
‘Adds some dynamism’: THE SECRET LOVE LIFE OF OPHELIA – Greenwich Theatre (Online review)
The Greenwich Theatre production of The Secret Love Life of Ophelia showcases a selection of excellent young performers that inadvertently asks some big questions about how we cast Hamlet in the 21st century.
National Theatre at Home: Saving our lockdown & pointing the way for future engagement
The National Theatre really did save lockdown and made us appreciate our phenomenal creative industries, but they may also have inadvertently pointed the way for the future as surely as National Theatre Live did in 2009.
‘Truly lifts a mirror up to pandemic life’: BARD IN THE YARD – Park Hill Park, Croydon
If you can afford your own private performance, Bard in the Yard is a wonderful, gentle re-introduction to live theatre and a reminder of why we love it so much.
‘Death haunts this play as surely as it does Hamlet’: How significant is the role of Hester in The Deep Blue Sea?
Like Shakespeare’s greatest play, The Deep Blue Sea is grief channelled into art, aligning Hamlet and Hester as two souls enveloped by death and choosing whether to live.
‘Hearing others cheering, clapping & laughing transports you into a new realm’: TWELFTH NIGHT – The Maltings Theatre (Online review)
Shakespeare. Theatre. Press Nights. These are all concepts we are familiar with, but in this unprecedented time of COVID-19 lockdown, for a moment we were unsure how theatre would survive.
‘A delightful two hours of comedy, love & misunderstandings’: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, Bridge Theatre ★★★★★ (Online review)
Enhancing the magic and dreamy qualities of the play, Nicholas Hytner’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a delightful two hours of comedy, love and misunderstandings.
‘An entertaining & fresh take on Shakespeare’s canon’: BARD FROM THE BARN – Barn Theatre (Online review)
The Barn Theatre in Cirencester has built on its broadcast earlier in lockdown of Henry V to develop a sequence of thirty-five monologues from Shakespeare’s plays.
Series one begins with the theatre itself and a stirring speech from Henry V, but as …
NEWS: ‘Age-blind’ Hamlet starring Ian McKellen begins rehearsals for eventual run
A new production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by Sean Mathias with Ian McKellen in an age-blind interpretation of the young Prince, will go into rehearsals on Monday 29 June 2020.
Lost Labour of Love: ‘All I had to do was turn up & say the words wot Shakespeare wrote, didn’t I?’
Knowing that some 600 people had applied the week previous to that, I had no great expectation that I would be selected but, to my amazement, I was offered the part of Costard.
‘A lean, swift & feisty political thriller’: CORIOLANUS – Donmar Warehouse (Online review)
To take a play as epic in scale as Coriolanus and find a natural home within the intimacy of London’s Donmar Warehouse takes a skill and lightness of touch that is not only rare but all so often missed.
I feel I personally have to advocate for Shakepeare’s Globe even more strongly
Reading that the Globe may struggle to come back from this current crisis without the help of donations and emergency funding didn’t seem quite real.
‘Tom Hiddleston is worth the price of admission’: CORIOLANUS – Donmar Warehouse (Online review)
There are some staggering contemporary references to draw from this staging of a lesser-known Shakespeare, starring Tom Hiddleston.
‘Thoughtfully & inclusively cast’: RICHARD II – The Show Must Go Online
The Show Must Go Online was firmly back in history mode with the beginning of Shakespeare’s second tetralogy in Richard II. Not quite as much bloodshed as the previous set of histories that we’ve seen – more posturing and challenging than anything.
NEWS: RSC cancels or postpones all remaining 2020 performances, including Barbican season
Due to the continuing lockdown, alongside Government advice that social distancing will need to remain in place for some time, the Company has made the difficult decision to postpone all remaining planned performances.
Recalling Tom Hiddleston in CORIOLANUS: ‘One of the best nights of theatre of my life’
It is not often that one reviews a play one saw six years ago, but with the forthcoming National Theatre At Home streaming of the Donmar Warehouse production of Coriolanus, right now seems a strangely appropriate time to recall one of the best nights of theatre of my life.
‘A fascinating body of work’: I, Peaseblossom / I, Banquo (Online review)
Tim Crouch’s series of performances as overlooked characters in Shakespeare is a fascinating body of work. He has been developing these one-man shows (with assistance) for more than 15 years.