Shakespeare

Artistic Director: Storme Toolis Director: Robin Norton Hale Reviewer: Maryam Philpott While Shakespeare’s plays can run to thousands of lines with a timeless understanding of the interior human world, the appearance of his characters is less defined. Yet think of any part and almost certainly an expectation of their age, physical shape and size comes to mind, especially for the ...

Writer: William Shakespeare  Director: Rufus Norris Reviewer: Charlotte Broadbent The National Theatre is taking its latest production of Macbeth around the country. The London run was met with mixed reviews and ran at a similar time to the Royal Shakespeare Company's production, which inevitably prompted comparisons. Rufus Norris's offering is undeniably unique and the entire design team has constructed a ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Richard Twyman Reviewer: Anna Ambelez Othello is a plethora of impassioned emotions; hatred, fear, discrimination, jealousy, manipulation and prejudice, all the ingredients of a great night at the theatre? A Muslim General in a Christian country, Othello (Victor Oshin) marries Senator Brabantio’s (Christopher Bianchi) daughter Desdemona (Kitty Archer) secretly, leading to major repercussions. Othello promotes a ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Erica Whyman Reviewer: Stephen Bates In an age of polarised views and deep social divisions, most of us will have little problem in relating to the premise that underpins William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. However, the divide that director Erica Whyman most strives to bridge in this Royal Shakespeare Company production, first seen in Stratford upon ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Rufus Norris Reviewer: Lu Greer The National Theatre’s Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most popularly retold plays, tells the story of the aftermath of a ruinous civil war and the Macbeths being inexorably pulled towards the crown by forces of darkness. The tone of the show is evident immediately from the set which is dominated by an ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Rufus Norris Reviewer: Dominic Corr Despite its notoriety as the pinnacle of the theatrical world, few can adapt the Bard's words well. We all know the tale, or at least we boast about knowing it. Macbeth is far from a straightforward production. A step to the left and it becomes dreary, dank and uninteresting. A tad ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Rufus Norris Reviewer: Joan Phillips Raven-black and using the full depth of Theatre Royal Plymouth's deep stage, designer Rae Smith's cavernous, almost subterranean set, ominously establishes the doomed atmosphere that permeates throughout the National Theatre's production of Macbeth. A huge arched bridge descends sharply to the front of the stage at floor level, and ascending to ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Rufus Norris Reviewer: Jay Nuttall Beginning its UK tour at The Lowry Theatre in Salford, The National Theatre’s touring production of Macbeth originally starred Rory Kinnear as the Scottish Lord and Anne-Marie Duff as his scheming wife, the production has been entirely recast as it takes to the road for a six-month tour. The National Theatre’s Artistic ...