Category: Shakespeare
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While I’ve introduced myself in my About Me section, I haven’t said much about my theatre likes and dislikes. My tastes are born out of a lot of testing. I’ve been going to the theatre regularly for 16 years. At the moment, I have the capacity to see one or two plays a week –…
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Video transcript: The RSC has a new production of Henry V starring Alfred Enoch, who some of you may know from his days in Harry Potter But, he’s done a lot of stage and screen work since then, so it feels slightly mean bringing up his child role. It’s an interesting production. It blends nicely…
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Hamlet video review transcript: Hamlet at the National Theatre has a younger cast to what you’d normally get with Hamlet, and I really like that, because it brings in a different level of energy. It feels very different to other productions I’ve seen recently. Certainly, Hiran Abeysekera, who plays Hamlet, has a lot of energy.…
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Luke Thallon in Hamlet for the RSC I've seen a lot of Hamlet's, and watching director Rupert Goold and Luke Thallon's take on 'the Dane', it struck me that we haven't really had a mad Hamlet for a long time. The prince might say that he is putting on an antic disposition and, as Polonius…
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Richard II video review transcript: It was great being back at the Bridge Theatre and getting to see one of my favourite plays, Richard II, this production starring Jonathan Bailey. The Bridge Theatre is a fantastic, flexible performance space, and in this production, it’s used really well. It’s a thrust stage, bits of scenery and…
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Video review transcript: Hayley Atwell and Tom Hiddleston are having so much fun in this production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. This is a playful, cheeky, party-themed production of Shakespeare’s play. And it’s vibrant, it’s acid pink in both its tone and its design. There is this brilliant chemistry…
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The National Theatre has given its new production of Coriolanus an epic feel. The stage has a series of huge concrete-looking columns which rise and fall to create different spaces in and around which the action is set. Ancient artefacts are dotted around, sometimes giving the feel of a modern museum, which is a visual…
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When someone plays not just many characters but all the characters in a classic play as Eddie Izzard does here for Hamlet, I have two key questions: How will they do it and why, i.e. what will it add? When I saw Andrew Scott's one-man Vanya, while a technically brilliant performance, it didn't add to…
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Director Jamie Lloyd is behind this new production of Romeo & Juliet with Spider-Man Tom Holland as the star name. He's a director whose work I love, particularly for the way he takes familiar plays and makes you see them differently. Could he work his magic on this Shakespeare classic and make me like a…
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Love's Labour's Lost, starring Luke Thomson, is the play that got me back to Stratford. It's been years since I jumped on a train to the West Midlands as it's become more of a faff since direct trains from London were ditched (such an idiotic decision). Was it worth the journey? Director Emily Burns has…