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Category Archives: Shakespeare on Stage
Updating Timon: Simon Russell Beale at the National
Theatre programmes don’t often include an article written by the leading man in the production. Most actors and directors let their work speak for them, and drawing attention to their past successes might be courting disaster. Actors can be a … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged London, modern dress, National Theatre, Shakespeare, Simon Russell Beale, Timon of Athens
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Round the globe with Much Ado About Nothing
What are we learning from the World Shakespeare Festival? A few weeks ago Sonia Massai headed a panel entitled Global Shakespeares. In her subsequent post on the RSC’s MyShakespeare site she says “‘Global Shakespeares’ can only be understood in relation … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Donald Sinden, Global Shakespeares, Indian, Iqbal Khan, John Barton, Judi Dench, Meera Syal, Michael Billington, Much Ado About Nothing, Paul Bhattarcharjee, Royal Shakespeare Company, Sonia Massai, World Shakespeare Festival
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Shakespearean voices
I’ve written several times about how much I love hearing Shakespeare spoken well, but what exactly does that mean? There are many aspects to speaking Shakespeare, and theatre companies now employ specialist voice coaches to help actors deal with the challenges. … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Ben Crystal, British Library, Cicely Berry, David Crystal, Hearing Shakespeare, Lyn Darnley, original pronunciation, Shakespearean Language, speaking, speech, Valerie Pye, voice
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Here come the girls: women directors at the Royal Shakespeare Company
Outgoing Artistic Director Michael Boyd recently announced his last planned season for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2013. In an interview he stated that “The theme of the season is heroines”, as several of the plays feature dominant women, … Continue reading
David Tennant’s Hamlet and screening Shakespeare on TV
Tucked away on the BBC2 TV schedule at 11.20 on Tuesday evening is the last of the Shakespeare Uncovered series, David Tennant on Hamlet. Not only does it feature David Tennant, whose own Hamlet for the RSC in 2008 was … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged BBC, David Tennant, DVD, Hamlet, Illuminations, Jeremy Irons, National Theatre, recording, Richard Eyre, The Hollow Crown, The Space, video
9 Comments
Peter O’Toole’s Shakespeare
The actor Peter O’Toole has recently announced his retirement from stage and screen, shortly before his 80th birthday. His reason? “The heart for it has gone out of me: it won’t come back.” It occurred to me that it’s unusual … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Edmund Kean, Hamlet, Henry Irving, John Gielgud, Lawrence of Arabia, Macbeth, National Theatre, Old Vic, Peter O'Toole, retirement, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Sonnet 18, Sonnets, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, Troilus and Cressida, William Macready
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Simon Schama and The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare and history
Among the must-see television shows for Shakespeare fans this summer has been Simon Schama’s Shakespeare. Love him or hate him, he’s the UK’s highest-profile historian. His style is individual, even eccentric, one minute generalising about the broad sweep of history, … Continue reading
Oh sorrow, pitiful sorrow: the burning of Shakespeare’s Globe
The Globe Theatre, that most famous building, burned to the ground on 29 June 1613. It had stood for only 14 years. It would have been front page news, if newspapers had existed then: at least five separate accounts of … Continue reading
Posted in Shakespeare on Stage, Shakespeare's World
Tagged ballad, burning, fire, Globe Theatre, Henry VIII
1 Comment
Julius Caesar on stage and screen
Greg Doran’s production of Julius Caesar breaks new ground. With an all-black cast, set in an unnamed modern African city rather than imperial Rome, the film version has been shown on TV while still being performed onstage at the Royal … Continue reading
Sir Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespeare
This year The Queen’s Birthday Honours list has recognised a bumper crop of people in the arts. For me the most pleasing was the knighthood which has been awarded to Kenneth Branagh. His association with Shakespeare goes back to his … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Hamlet, Henry V, Kenneth Branagh, Royal Shakespeare Company
6 Comments