Tag Archives: Frank Benson

Playing Shakespeare’s and Ibsen’s heroines: the career of Janet Achurch

After Shakespeare’s, Henrik Ibsen’s plays are the most-performed dramas ever written. They were immediately popular and were produced around the world even during his lifetime. Set in his native Norway, the plays explored what lay behind the strict moral regime … Continue reading

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Acting companies and the ensemble

A couple of weeks ago Gregory Doran, the new Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, was “In conversation” with Michael Dobson, the head of the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon. The session was recorded on video and is now generously … Continue reading

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Stratford’s Band of Brothers: the Bensonian Company

One of the most significant events in the early years of the theatre in Stratford was the appointment of Frank Benson to run the festivals. From 1879 to 1885 the Memorial Theatre had been a receiving house for companies bringing … Continue reading

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Mourning at the closing of the year

Shakespeare often idealised brotherhood: not just as a literal bond of blood, but also as a relationship of close trust and love. In his own life Shakespeare was one of eight siblings. Infant mortality took its toll, two sisters dying as … Continue reading

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