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Category Archives: Shakespeare on Stage
The RSC’s golden years: Terry Hands and Alan Howard
What better way to end the RSC’s season of events celebrating the Company’s 50th anniversary than with a discussion between two people who for many epitomised the RSC during the 1970s and early 1980s? On Saturday morning Greg Doran hosted … Continue reading
Michael Sheen’s Hamlet and the vision of Philip K Dick
In my last post I mentioned that Michael Sheen was talking on the radio about the life of the science fiction writer Philip K Dick who inspired his Hamlet. The broadcast will be repeated on Friday 9 December at 11pm, and … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Hamlet, Michael Sheen, Philip K Dick, Shakespeare, Young Vic
Comments Off on Michael Sheen’s Hamlet and the vision of Philip K Dick
Is Hamlet a callous, egocentric villain?
According to author John Updike, “Hamlet is in fact the callous, egocentric villain of Hamlet”. This view was recently quoted in a posting on the Shakespeare Bulletin board SHAKSPER. That’s quite a condemnation of probably the most famous of all … Continue reading
Michael Sheen’s Hamlet: driving out the feminine side
For centuries, critics have noted Hamlet’s effeminacy: his inability to act decisively, that description as a “delicate and tender prince”. In the eighteenth century the great actor David Garrick was criticised for “giving a kind of feminine sorrow” to his … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged feminine, Hamlet, Ian Rickson, madness, Michael Sheen, psychiatry, Richard Eyre, Shakespeare, Tony Howard, women, Young Vic
2 Comments
Shakespeare and the first actresses
The National Portrait Gallery in London’s new exhibition celebrates the careers of the earliest English professional actresses. Entitled The First Actresses: Nell Gwynn to Sarah Siddons it neatly documents womens’ increasing respectability in the world of the theatre. In Shakespeare’s … Continue reading
Posted in Shakespeare on Stage, Shakespeare's World
Tagged actresses, Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like it, Cleopatra, exhibition, Juliet, National Portrait Gallery, Rosalind, Shakespeare, women
Comments Off on Shakespeare and the first actresses
What next for the Royal Shakespeare Company?
A few days away from mobile phones, TV and radio combined with the aftermath of a cold have played havoc with posts to my blog. Now back on track, I find that not only has Michael Boyd announced that he … Continue reading
Paul Robeson, Othello and Mixed Britannia
The BBC has just begun a mixed race season, examining how over the past 100 years Britain has come to be a country in which inter-racial partnerships are commonplace. The first documentary in the series Mixed Britannia looked at the … Continue reading
Posted in Legacy, Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage, Stratford-upon-Avon
Tagged Ira Aldridge, Mixed Britannia, Othello, Paul Robeson, Peggy Ashcroft
Comments Off on Paul Robeson, Othello and Mixed Britannia
Shakespearian stars 3: John Gielgud as Hamlet
If asked to name the greatest Hamlet of the mid-twentieth century most people would suggest Laurence Olivier. It was, though John Gielgud who received more critical acclaim and who, for people alive at the time, was most closely associated with … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Hamlet, John Gielgud, London, New York, Shakespeare
1 Comment
World Shakespeare Festival: is all the world a stage?
The plans for the biggest Shakespeare Festival ever to be staged have just been released. The World Shakespeare Festival will run from 23 April until September 2012, bringing artists from all over the world together in a UK-wide festival in … Continue reading
Michael Rosen and Shakespeare for children
I recently spent a day at the Cambridge Shakespeare Conference, its theme Shakespeare: sources and adaptations. It opened with a thought-provoking lecture by Michael Rosen, Children’s Laureate 2007-2009 and Shakespeare enthusiast. To an audience who needed no convincing of the … Continue reading
Posted in Plays and Poems, Shakespeare on Stage
Tagged Cambridge, education, Michael Rosen, poetry, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, Such Tweet Sorrow, Tim Crouch
7 Comments