Tag Archives: Royal Shakespeare Company

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

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Jubilee Queens

This weekend we celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of our Queen, and the media have made many references to the other massively influential English monarch who ruled for sixty years, Queen Victoria. Queen Elizabeth II doesn’t pretend to take a great … Continue reading

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Nine Men’s Morris and the English weather

Last week I was contacted by a reader of this blog with a query about the Nine Men’s Morris in the Theatre Gardens in Stratford-upon-Avon. How old, he wondered, was it? I should explain. Nine Men’s Morris is an ancient … Continue reading

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The Comedy of Errors

The RSC’s Shipwreck trilogy is subtitled “What country friends is this?” and in the production of The Comedy of Errors directed by the Palestinian Amir Nizar Zuabi, it’s a question that the audience might easily find themselves asking. Set in … Continue reading

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Julius Caesar: Shakespeare’s African play

In this year of firsts, Greg Doran, who’s about to take over the running of the Royal Shakespeare Company, is creating a few firsts of his own. He’s currently rehearsing the first RSC Shakespeare production featuring a completely black cast. … Continue reading

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Gregory Doran: Royal Shakespeare Company Artistic Director in waiting

Today Gregory Doran (universally known as Greg), has been appointed as the new Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the most important job in the world of Shakespeare. Those who have been watching Greg for the last two decades … Continue reading

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Shakespeare’s shipwrecks

Last week on Twitter, someone drily pointed out in response to the RSC’s new season, that Shakespeare never wrote a shipwreck trilogy. The What country friends is this? season is certainly unusual, and the cynical might say it’s a marketing … Continue reading

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Picturing Shakespeare: Alan O’Cain’s The Tempest

  Responses to Shakespeare’s plays come in many forms, and his influence on other art forms such as music, painting and design was explored as part of the British Shakespeare Association’s Lancaster University conference last weekend.  Picturing Shakespeare was one … Continue reading

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Ira Aldridge, Shakespearean actor and gentleman of colour

The black actor Ira Aldridge is now recognised as one of the most remarkable interpreters of Shakespeare’s leading roles. He first appeared on the London stage as Othello in 1825, and remained associated with the role for the rest of his … Continue reading

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Seeing Shakespeare inside-out at the British Shakespeare Association conference

At the end of the week I’m going to the British Shakespeare Association’s Conference at Lancaster University.  The three-day conference runs from 24-26 February and is on the theme of Shakespeare Inside-Out: Depth/Surface/Meaning. A host of lectures, seminars and practical … Continue reading

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