Author Archives: Sylvia Morris

If music and sweet poetry agree: Stratford-upon-Avon’s Festival

On Saturday morning Stratford-upon-Avon’s Music Festival began with a Festival Fanfare entitled Lend Me Your Ears, played by the brass ensemble from King Edward VI School. Performed on the steps of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre it was a reminder of … Continue reading

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Celebrating Stage Management Day

Rather late in the day I heard that 10 October 2013 is being celebrated as the first Stage Management Day. Stage managers are some of the unsung heroes of the theatre world, people who the audience rarely sees, but who … Continue reading

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Libraries for Shakespeare

A week ago I went to take a first look at the new Library of Birmingham and its Shakespeare Memorial Room. I was a little apprehensive that it would have the appearance of a branch of Waterstones or even a shopping … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s histories onscreen: An Age of Kings, The Hollow Crown and Richard II

I’ve just heard the great news that An Age of Kings, the first filmed history cycle, is finally about to be made available on DVD to the UK (Region 2). Perversely, the series has been on sale in the USA … Continue reading

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State of Play: UK theatre audiences and actors

Last week a new report looking at the ways in which the ages and opinions of  theatre audiences are changing was published. State of Play: Theatre UK, was produced by Ticketmaster, who are not surprisingly interested to know who’s buying the … Continue reading

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Shakespeare on the golf course

Golf may be one of the oldest of games, but it doesn’t seem to have been Shakespeare’s favourite as he never mentions it directly. He just might have played a few shots though: Mary, Queen of Scots, for one, is thought … Continue reading

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Anticipating Richard II

There are now less than two weeks to go until the RSC’s most-hyped production of the last few years, Richard II, has its first performance. With David Tennant playing the leading role, all the Stratford performances were sold out months … Continue reading

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Dido, Queen of Carthage: Marlowe and Shakespeare’s visions of Troy

Dido, Queen of Carthage is one of Christopher Marlowe’s least-performed and least-read plays. It’s sometimes been suggested that this unpopularity has been caused by it being an early, perhaps undergraduate effort. Recently there has been a revival of interest in … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s scenes in terracotta

Stratford-upon-Avon is not exactly short of memorials to William Shakespeare, with statues, busts and portraits on view in many public and not so public places. But representations of his plays are less common. The earliest of these were incorporated into … Continue reading

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Colorblind casting in Shakespeare: are we nearly there yet?

I’ve just been enjoying Dr Jami Rogers’ new article The Shakespearean Glass Ceiling: the State of Colorblind Casting in Contemporary British Theatre, which appears in Shakespeare Bulletin Vol 31 no 3, pp 405-430. As well as providing a fascinating analysis … Continue reading

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