Tag Archives: Shakespeare

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Garry Hynes Reviewer: Sarah Hoover Richard III (played with a nod to Antony Sher’s 1984 ‘bottle spider’ on two sticks by Druid favourite Aaron Monaghan) is a Teflon courtier; there is no good reason that his insectile climb up the ladder towards kingship isn’t thwarted. Why does Lady Anne (Siobhán Cullen) accept his marriage proposal, made ...

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 ...

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 ...

Writer:  William  Shakespeare Director: Elizabeth Freestone Sound Designer: Giles Thomas Reviewer: Julia Beasley England is at odds with France. the country sees the people across the Channel as the enemy. The air is thick with jingoistic rallying cries: "Once more unto the breach…cry God for Harry, England and St George!" We’re just about to do battle with our old foes. The ...

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Liam Halligan Reviewer: Laura Marriott “What? Did I marry her in my sleep?” Two sets of twins separated at birth, a nun, a possible execution, a bondsman with a baton, a goldsmith lacking in gold, an over-enthusiastic kitchen maid, a wife, a mistress, infidelity, a tempest, demonic possession and a subversive sister. It can only be ...

Adapted by: Hannah Drake and Justin Palmer, from the play by William Shakespeare Director: Hannah Drake Designer: Sarah Warren Composer: Ellie Showering Lighting: Edmund McKay Reviewer: Leah Tozer Shakespeare, ‘star-cross’d lovers’, ancestral strife, and … an open-air swimming pool? Insane Root Theatre’s ‘fair Verona’ is Eastville Park Swimming Pool, an empty, open-air pool just east of the city, and it’s ...

Creator: Damien Warren-Smith Reviewer: Simon Topping As the impressively filmic announcer welcomes Garry Starr to the stage, the performer bundles on to proclaim theatre is dead. The disgruntled ex-Shakespearean actor is here to save the dying art form by performing all the genres of theatre for us and reignite our flame of joy for the stage, which he says has almost ...

Writer: Bella and Samuel Spewack  Music and Lyrics: Cole Porter     Directors: Jo Davies/Ed Goggin Reviewer: Dawn Smallwood Opera North’s Kiss Me Kate returns to the Leeds Grand Theatre after its successful revival back in 2015.  This acclaimed production, in collaboration with Welsh National Opera, makes a short stop in Leeds before transferring to the London Coliseum.  Kiss Me Kate premiered ...