Shakespeare

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Fiona Laird Reviewer: James Garrington If you’re hoping to see how Shakespeare can be brought up to date, then look no further than this fun-packed production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. There is little doubt that Shakespeare designed many of his plays to be crowd-pleasers, aimed at entertaining and engaging with the general public of the ...

Reviewer: Clare Howdon Magnificent Bastard Productions return to the Fringe yet again this year with another take on their sell-out, award-winning formula Shit-Faced Shakespeare, with this year’s victim being the Bard’s tragedy Hamlet. For those not au fait with Shit-Faced Shakespeare, the premise of each show is simple; a group of classically trained actors perform an abridged Shakespeare play with ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Adaptor: Austin Pendleton Director: Austin Pendleton & Peter Bloch Reviewer: Robert Price Come to hear a play and you will not be disappointed. Semi-scholars of The Bard will be thrilled to listen carefully to the rarely read origins of Richard III that lie in Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part 3. His kid brother Rutland is murdered, and Richard’s ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Jo Loyn Reviewer: Kelyn Luther 2018 marks the fourth year of ‘Bard in the Yard’- Barbican Theatre’s summer Shakespeare production staged outdoors in the ‘secret garden’ of Residence One, Royal William Yard. Having previously staged only comedies in this way, Macbeth might seem like an odd choice - after all, the foreboding gloom of Scotland doesn’t ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Alex Clifton Reviewer: Emma Boswell The Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre returns this summer, converted into a magical island in its staging of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.  Directed by the very talented artistic director of Storyhouse (and Cestrian) Alex Clifton, The Tempest explores the story of Prospero; the usurped Duke (or Duchess, in this production) of Milan, ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Claire van Kampen Reviewer: Alex Ramon  The last ten years or so can't be said to have lacked for starry Othello productions on UK stages, whether it's Chiwetel Ejiofor facing off with Ewan MacGregor at the Donmar, Clarke Peters and Dominic West in a high-Wire production at Sheffield Crucible, or Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear at the ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Composer and Musical Director: Olly Fox Director: Bill Buckhurst Reviewer: Abbie Rippon Picnics at the ready; pop open the prosecco and uncork the Malbec! Sit back, relax and enjoy your journey to Messina at the Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre. Written in 1598, when women were expected to stay chaste and subservient in a world ruled by ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Tom Littler Reviewer: Steve Turner Written towards the end of the sixteenth century Shakespeare’s comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost features the longest scene and the longest word in any of his works. There is also more than the usual helping of sophisticated wordplay and convoluted literary references, such that it might seem a little impenetrable. Thankfully the Guildford ...