Tag Archives: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Sally Jacobs and A Midsummer Night’s Dream after 50 years

When you think of the Peter Brook production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, what springs to mind? Of course, an image of the famous white box set, perhaps with actors swinging on trapezes, Titania’s bower of blood-red feather boas, or … Continue reading

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Shakespeare and the moon

It’s fifty years since the first moon landing in July 1969, and most people who were alive at the time must have memories of it. My father woke me up to watch Neil Armstrong become the first human ever to … Continue reading

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Plough Monday and Distaff Day

Although Christmas is well past, it’s been only a week since many people got  back to normal, so attached are the English to festivities at the turn of the year. It’s not a new phenomenon. From Elizabethan times, and probably … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s “Play for the nation”

I’ve recently been to the RSC’s new A Midsummer Night’s Dream, subtitled A Play for the Nation. After its initial performances, it’s going on tour to 11 towns and cities around the country. In each place the 18-strong professional cast … Continue reading

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Royal Shakespeare Company’s plans for 2016

All the large Shakespeare organisations are celebrating the four-hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016 with events to show that Shakespeare is universal, appealing to people of all ages and backgrounds. As befits the best-funded Shakespeare company in the UK … Continue reading

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Julie Taymor’s phantasmagoric film of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Julie Taymor’s film of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was released in the UK, perhaps predictably, on Sunday 21 June 2015. And from the trailer, it looks amazing (see the end of this post). As a director she’s worked around the world … Continue reading

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Peter Brook at the V&A

On Saturday I was lucky to be able to attend a symposium at the Victoria and Albert Museum entitled Peter Brook: Place, Process, Performance, Politics. It was part of the Museum’s Performance Festival and this investigation of Brook’s impact on … Continue reading

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Love, whose month is ever May

Mayday has long been celebrated as the real beginning of spring, marking the return of life after the cold and dark of winter. Nicholas Breton, writing in Fantasticks, describes the pleasures of the month: “It is now May, and the sweetness … Continue reading

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“These late eclipses”: the moon, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and happiness

On the morning of Friday 20 March the UK will experience a near-total eclipse of the sun. Even where skies are not clear, the sky will darken and we will experience a sort of twilight. The birds will fall silent until … Continue reading

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Alan Howard: remembering the Dream

Alan Howard, who died on 14 February 2015, came from a family of actors and writers, and following in the family tradition, became the most theatrical of actors. Many have concentrated on the partnership he developed with RSC director Terry Hands … Continue reading

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