Shakespeare

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 ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Music: Dan Gillespie Sells Director: Robert Hastie Choreographer: Darragh O’Leary Reviewer: Janet Jepson “The course of true love never did run smooth”, so goes the most quoted line from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A sentiment totally echoed in real life, but never so true as in this magical tale of both fairy and human love affairs. It ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Simon Godwin Reviewer: Stephen Bates Forsaking togas and tiaras in favour of modern military uniforms and designer outfits, director Simon Godwin gives new life to William Shakespeare’s torrid account of a collision between power, politics and passion in the days of the Roman Empire. The age that it can take to perform the full version of ...

Director: Richard Twyman Writer: Shakespeare Company: English Touring Theatre Reviewer: Ruth Jepson Beware, my lord, of jealousy... Othello. Just the name conjures up so many images in the minds of the audience. A savage heathen. A misunderstood sympathetic. A trusting fool turned violent by circumstance. Richard Twyman has chosen to direct his Othello as a secret Muslim, provoked to unleash ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Jude Christian Reviewer: Jo Beggs This co-production between Lyric Hammersmith and HOME could so easily be all concept and little content, given that it is pretty much what you might imagine from the title. Heavily abridged, the two plays are performed back to back with the same cast, drawing some neat parallels while retaining their individual ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Adapted by: Jeanie O’Hare Director: Elizabeth Freestone Reviewer: Jim Gillespie  The Royal Exchange Theatre acknowldege that this retelling of the royal backdrop to the Wars of the Roses makes use of original text by William Shakespeare, drawn from his history plays. The perspective is that of the wife of Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou, who made up ...

Director: Wils Wilson Designer: Ana Inés Jabares-Pita Reviewer: Dominic Corr Devoid of constraints, Shakespeare for his faults, is a master in weaving a timeless narrative. His creations serve both as triumphs of art but also templates. Templates which may have a set structure or character but are completely adaptable. Once lacking in diversity, Shakespeare’s text is pushed by Wils Wilson ...