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Posts Tagged ‘William Shakespeare’

The Comedy of Errors – Garden Theatre, RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , on August 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Well well. After over a year of being deprived of live theatre, I was absolutely thrilled to be able to go back to the RSC to see this production of Shakespeare’s shortest and arguably most farcical play. This was set in the newly erected outdoor Garden Theatre, which is just about the sweetest theatre I have been in. It has a capacity of 500, but ticket sales were topped at 310, to allow for social distancing. The weather is always a risk with outdoor performances, but regular groundling visitors to The Globe Theatre are used to coping; in any event we were lucky enough to have glorious sunshine on this particular visit.

In essence, The Comedy of Errors features two sets of identical twins – one pair of whom work for the other pair. As children the pairs get separated and one twin from each set ends up with one twin from the other set. When they meet up again as adults – with none of them knowing of the existence of their twin brother, mayhem ensues as they get mistaken for each other. One man’s wife is convinced he has gone off her, one of them is accused of owing money, and there are all sorts of opportunities for both verbal and physical comedy.

The play was updated to give a 1980s feel and look, with scene changes taking place accompanied by a group of four a capella singers, also dressed in 80s clothes.

Part of the challenge must have been to find actors who were sufficiently alike to make the mistaken identities believable, while being different enough for the audience to tell the actors apart. I thought this was achieved perfectly with the two Antiphulos characters (yes, to confuse things further each man has the same name as his twin) being played by Guy Lewis and Rowan Polonski, and the two Dromio characters being played by Jonathan Broadbent and Greg Haiste.

I loved the show, and found myself laughing all the way through – as did the rest of the audience who all seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. I hope the cast had as good a time as we did. I have missed live theatre so much during the Covid-19 pandemic and this was the perfect way to celebrate being able to see a show again.

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Much Ado About Nothing – Globe Theatre, London

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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For this performance of the much loved Shakespeare play, the action has been moved to Mexico in 1910, shortly after the Mexican revolution. Soldier’s Don Pedro, Benedick and Claudio are returning from the war, with Claudio anxious to see his love Hero, while Benedick and Hero’s cousin Beatrice have a snippy, sarcastic relationship. The audience of course know that they love each other, even if Benedick and Beatrice have yet to realise it themselves. Fortunately, Don Pedro and the rest of their friends scheme to bring the two together, and I don’t think it’s giving anything away to say that despite their reluctance, they do of course work things out in the end. Along the way however, Don Pedro’s scheming sister Don Juana (as opposed to Don John) schemes to break up Hero and Claudio which causes their wedding to be wrecked when Claudio falsely believes that Hero has cheated on him. Bumbling and inept detective Dogberry fortunately steps in to save the day, and naturally the situation resolves itself.

I was very intrigued to see how the more modern Mexican setting would change the staging and perhaps alter the focus of the play, as opposed to it’s original setting in Messina. Fortunately although there was a more ‘brutal’ atmosphere to the staging, the comedy and the verbal sparring between Beatrice and Benedick remained safely intact, and I thought Beatriz Romilly and Matthew Needham were excellent in their respective roles. I also really liked Steve John Shepherd as Don Pedro. Anya Chalotra brought just the right amount of sympathy and vulnerability to the role of Hero, and Claudio was played well by Marcello Cruz (Claudio is not my favourite character in this play; I always thought he was gullible, and disloyal to the lady he was supposed to love – Cruz managed to straddle the line between displaying that and yet somehow getting the audience onside at the end).

The role of Dogberry was played by Ewan Wardrop – for me, Dogberry is one of the funniest characters, but also one of the easiest to overplay…he could easily tip over into being annoying, but Wardrop was note-perfect in this production.

Plenty of Mexican music added to the atmosphere, with two musicians constantly on stage and shown in silhouette. The props were also clever, with Don Pedro and Claudio strolling around in stilts of a sort, and with wire horses (no, I haven’t described that very well, but trust me, it worked).

All in all, this was a very enjoyable and very imaginatively staged production of the play, which shows how Shakespeare can retain all his original beauty yet still be adapted to different times and settings.

If you are a Shakespeare fan (or even if you’re not) I would recommend you try and catch this production while it’s on.

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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This RSC production of Shakespeare’s delightful comedy (one of my personal all-time favourite plays) is nothing is not ambitious. As well as professional actors, it also features several amateur drama groups taking turns playing the rude mechanicals – themselves amateur actors – for a number of performances at a time. Schoolchildren from various schools also feature as fairies in the forest. Rehearsals with the amateur groups were often done via the internet rather than in person, so all in all definitely an unconventional way of putting a performance together.

Having played in Stratford initially, the play then toured the country before returning for another run at Stratford, which is where I was lucky enough to see it. So does the experiment work? Well…yes, most definitely.

This play actually incorporates three separate but interlocking stories – the young lovers Lysander and Hermia run away together to the forest, having been banned from marrying by her father, who wants her to marry another young man named Demetrius. Demetrius is in hot pursuit of the couple, but he himself is pursued by Helena, who is in love with him despite his lack of interest.

Meanwhile, fairy king Oberon and fairy queen Titania are at loggerheads and Oberon decides to cast a spell on her, which results in her falling in love with a most unexpected character…

And the rude mechanicals, a bunch of amateur performers are rehearsing a play which they hope to perform in front of Duke Theseus and his new bride Hippolyta at their wedding. But when Oberon’s right hand ‘man’, chief fairy Puck gets involved, events take a strange (and hilarious) turn.

First of all, a note about the Rude Mechanical actors – if anyone has any fears that amateur means not very good, then fear no more. The Tower Theatre company, who were the company on stage for the production we saw, were more than able to hold their own against the professionals in this production. The play within a play that the mechanicals perform is farcical and it must be hard to play at being incompetent. However, these actors completely won the audience over, and also generated some of the biggest laughs.

The staging is wonderful – with costumes and a set that suggest a 1940s period, minimal but very clever scenery and some wonderful jazz music provided by live musicians on either side of the stage, it is a visual delight.

I loved the four young lovers – Jack Holden, Mercy Ojelade, Chris Nayak and Laura Riseborough as Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena respectively are all wonderful. If I’m nitpicking I would perhaps say that Laura Riseborough delivered some of her lines so quickly that it was occasionally hard to understand what she was saying, but generally speaking all the scenes with the four of them (or any combination thereof) were extremely funny, particularly the aftermath of Puck mistakenly causing Lysander to fall in love with Helena, where Demetrius and Lysander face off against one another, while Hermia and Helena find themselves at loggerheads.

Chu Omambala was a terrific Oberon – slinky like a cat, with a melancholy demeanour (after all, he and his beloved Titania are having some serious relationship woes) – he cut a fine figure in his classy white suit. Ayesha Dharker is beautiful and radiant as said Titania, and I loved the chemistry between the pair at the end.

Another relationship with amazing chemistry was that of Oberon and Puck – played by Lucy Ellinson in a scene-stealing performance. Ellinson prances and dances her way about the stage, with wide-eyed mischief and playfulness. Truly, it’s hard to take your eyes off her when she is on-stage, as she channels 1920s silent film stars such as Charlie Chaplin with her exaggerated but graceful movements.

Overall, this was a hugely enjoyable production, and one which I would highly recommend to fans of Shakespeare, or indeed anyone with a passing interest.

(For more information about this production, please click here.)

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‘The Secret Life of William Shakespeare’ by Jude Morgan

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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This book had been sitting on my shelf for a few years, and I finally decided it was time to read it for several reasons: I enjoy reading Shakespeare and learning about his life, I enjoy watching his plays, historical fiction (particularly when interwoven with fact) is a favourite genre of mine, and recently there have been the celebrations of 400 years since he died. Which I suppose is a slightly strange thing to celebrate, but still.

Not a lot is actually known about Shakespeare’s life, or to put it more precisely, there are large gaps in his biography. This book takes the facts that we do know and weaves a fictional story around them. It never claims to be anything but fictional, but clearly the author has done a lot of research to get as much accuracy in as possible.

I am in two minds about it. On the one hand, there was much to enjoy – the writing was elegant and at times rather beautiful, but also slightly too flowery for my personal tastes. It felt as though 20 words were often used when one would have sufficed. Nonetheless I felt it gave a descriptive portrayal of Shakespeare although there is no way of knowing truly how accurate the portrayal was. Morgan draws him as a serious minded, elusive man who wins everyone’s (almost) admiration, yet never really allows anyone to get too close, except for one person who he regrets letting into his life.

One thing to point out about this book is that it is as much about Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway as it is about him, and a fair amount of the story is also given over to Shakespeare’s friend and contemporary, Ben Jonson. Shakespeare is seen through both of their eyes, and out of all three characters, Anne probably comes across as the most sympathetic.

Overall I would say that this was a middling book for me – objectively I’d say it was wonderfully written, but subjectively I’d say that it wasn’t the best fit for me; however, I enjoyed it enough to want to pick it up each day, but it was so wordy that I couldn’t read great swathes of it in one sitting. Interesting though, and I would recommend it to fans of historical fiction and especially to anyone with an interest in William Shakespeare.

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Hamlet (2000)

Posted in Film Reviews, TV/Film adaptation reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Well, it worked for Baz Luhrmann, when he updated Romeo and Juliet to a modern day setting.  In this film, director Michael Almereyda updates Hamlet and shifts the action to corporate New York in 2000.  Hamlet (Ethan Hawke) is mourning the loss of his father, who was the CEO of The Denmark Corporation.  He believes that his father was in fact murdered by his Uncle Claudius (Kyle McLachlan) who has gone on to marry Hamlet’s mother Gertrude (Diane Verona) in distasteful haste, and is also the new CEO of the corporation.

Hamlet is determined to avenge his father’s death.  Meanwhile, he struggles with his own loose grip on sanity, as does his former girlfriend Ophelia (Julia Stiles).

I’m not completely sure what to make of this adaptation.  I like the idea – I like Shakespeare’s plays in their own settings, but I do like to see them in new and unfamiliar settings, which may entice other people to try them out.  This version comes in just shy of two hours, which is pretty short, considering that Hamlet is Shakespeare’s longest play (the very faithful Kenneth Branagh adaptation is four hours long).  Certain parts have been cut out, but the essence of the story remains intact, and Shakespeare’s original language is used throughout, although not in its entirety.  The cast overall were strong – Ethan Hawke is an under-rated actor, and he captures Hamlet’s fine line between grief and insanity very well.  I also liked Julia Stiles and Liev Schreiber as Ophelia and Laertes respectively.  Kyle MacLachlan did a fine job as Claudius, while Diane Verona was excellent as Gertrude, and really captured the character.  Hamlet’s ‘friends’ (if you have seen the play, you will understand why I use the term loosely) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are played by Steve Zahn and Dechen Thurman – who is the brother of Ethan Hawke’s then wife Uma Thurman – and Zahn in particular shone in his role.  I also really liked Karl Geary as Horatio, Hamlet’s true friend until the end.

The cast was not perfect however – unfortunately, the usually excellent Bill Murray seemed lost as Polonius.  I’ve seen Murray in straight roles before and he is normally great in them, but I didn’t think he suited this particular character at all, and just seemed to be reading his lines with no inflection or meaning whatsoever.  It’s a shame – Polonius could have been great with a different actor, but overall this did not detract from my enjoyment of the film.

What did occur to me however was that if I didn’t know the story of Hamlet, I think I would have had trouble following what was happening.  It’s not the language; it was more that scenes seemed particularly disjointed from one another, and it seemed to me that it was jumping about a bit – first concentrating on this, then concentrating on that.  On that basis, I would definitely recommend that anyone planning on watching this familiarises themselves with the story first.

On a positive note, New York City is actually a very good backdrop for the story…aesthetically it looks perfect, and I also loved the music.  I’m not sure that I can forgive the famous To Be Or Not To Be soliloquy being recited in voice-over while our hero roams a Blockbuster video store.  There was probably some symbolism there, but it escaped me.

Overall, if you are looking for an adaptation of Hamlet, this is not the best one to start with.  However, if you are a fan of the play and want to see this version for that reason, you might find more to enjoy than you expect.

Year of release: 2000

Director: Michael Almereyda

Producers: Jason Blum, John Sloss, Andrew Fierberg, Amy Hobby, Callum Greene

Writers: William Shakespeare (play), Michael Almereyda

Main cast: Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Verona, Bill Murray, Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Karl Geary, Steve Zahn, Dechen Thurman

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Click here for my review of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2013 production of Hamlet.

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Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe (2011)

Posted in Period drama/comedy reviews, Theatre, TV/Film adaptation reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s best loved comedies, and this particular production, starring Eve Best and Charles Edwards, was filmed live at Shakespeare’s Glove Theatre, in 2011.  Briefly, the storyline for the play revolves around two pairs of would-be lovers: Beatrice and Benedick (Best and Edwards), who verbally spar with one another and pretend to feel contempt for one another, although there is obviously chemistry between them.  The other couple are Hero and Claudio, who fall in love, but on the night before they marry, Claudio is duped into thinking that Hero has been unfaithful, and cruelly rejects her in front of everybody at their wedding.

While (without actually counting the lines), I would guess that at least as much time, if not more, is given to the Hero/Claudio story as is given to the Beatrice/Benedick story, it is really the latter couple that make this play come alive for me, and Eve Best and Charles Edwards are just wonderfully cast.  Both of them made me laugh out loud, and the scenes where first Benedick and then Beatrice are tricked into thinking that the other has feelings for them were beautifully done, with some wonderful physical comedy adding to Shakespeare’s witty script.

Philip Cumbus was an effective Claudio; Cumbus does actually make him fairly sympathetic, and Only Uhiara was also very good as Hero, although I get irritated with Hero in every production or film I see of Much Ado….. because – spoiler alert – she takes Claudio back, instead of kicking him into touch, which he deserves.

If you are a fan of Shakespeare, or just like good comedy, I definitely recommend this, mainly for the highly comedic yet touching story of Benedick and Beatrice, which was truly joyful to watch, largely because of the perfect performances of Eve Best and Charles Edwards.

Year of production: 2011 (first televised in 2012)

Director: Jeremy Herrin

Writer: William Shakespeare (play)

Main cast: Charles Edwards, Eve Best, Philip Cumbus, Only Uhiara, Joe Caffrey, Joseph Marcell

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Click here for my review of the 1993 film adaptation.

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Much Ado About Nothing (1993) (minor spoilers)

Posted in Film Reviews, TV/Film adaptation reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 4, 2013| 4 Comments »

This Shakespeare play revolves around two pairs of lovers – Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard) and Hero (Kate Beckinsale), who find that because of the deception of others, the path of true love does not always run smoothly; and Beatrice (Emma Thompson) and Benedick (Kenneth Branagh), who have an antagonistic relationship and fall in love almost against their own wills.

Kenneth Branagh directs, co-produces and stars in this adaptation, and what a truly wonderful adaptation it is.  It is full of colour and life, and left me with such a feeling of happiness afterwards, that it should be available to view on prescription!  Denzel Washington has never looked more handsome than he does here as the Spanish Prince Don Pedro, Richard Briers as Hero’s father Leonato and Brian Blessed as Leonato’s brother Antonio are both wonderful in their roles, and Kate Beckinsale is sweet and lovely as Hero.  It hardly needs to be said that Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson are both note-perfect as the squabbling Benedick and Beatrice, making perfect use of Shakespeare’s sharp and witty banter.  It’s worth mentioning Michael Keaton’s small but important part as police constable Dogberry, which he certainly makes the most of, stealing most of the scenes he is in.  The casting isn’t perfect – Keanu Reeves is an odd choice for the villain Don John, who leads Claudio into mistakenly believing that Hero has been unfaithful, and Robert Sean Leonard is rather wooden as Claudio.  However, there is so much to enjoy in this film that it hardly matters.

Although it does contain dark themes – the aborted first wedding of Claudio and Hero is upsetting, particularly as the viewer knows that Hero has been slandered – it is mainly cheerful with a happy tone throughout.  I’d recommend this to fans and non-fans of Shakespeare alike.  It is definitely one of my favourite Shakespeare adaptations.

Year of release: 1993

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Producers: Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Evans, David Parfitt

Writers: William Shakespeare (play), Kenneth Branagh (screenplay)

Main cast: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsale, Robert Sean Leonard, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, Richard Briers, Brian Blessed, Michael Keaton

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Click here for my review of the televised live performance of Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (2011)

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What You Will (2012)

Posted in Film Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This (sadly little-known) drama-comedy mockumentary follows the fortunes of a travelling theatre company, who are performing a modern and subversive adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.  It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the main players, including the egotistical and rather unpleasant Greg (Ferdy Roberts), and the heavy drinking and irresponsible, but ultimately likeable ‘Oz’ Oscar (Oliver Dimsdale), who started the company.  The characters are all too believable, with the sometimes tense and claustrophobic atmosphere that one can feel when cooped up with the same people day in, day out, clearly shown.  I liked Suzie (Sandy Foster), the understudy, who despite being the only person who had to audition to join the company, is never given her chance to shine (with Greg giving his own non-actor wife a part in the play rather than offer it to Suzie), and the other understudy Tony (Alex Avery), who is given a chance to shine, despite not being up to the part.

With actors Dominic West and Romola Garai playing themselves, giving their opinion on the company and the play, the realism is heightened.  There are moments of comedy and some moments of pathos, mainly courtesy of Oscar, and it ends on a somewhat downbeat note, although that does not detract from the general enjoyment of the film.

I would say that a basic knowledge of the play Twelfth Night would help when watching this, although it is probably not a necessity.  However, do not watch it expecting to learn what Twelfth Night is about, because it probably won’t help!

This is definitely a film for fans of Shakespeare, and even more so for fans of theatre in general, and how things operate after the curtain comes down.  I really enjoyed it, and will certainly be watching it again in the future.  (I wish it were better known; with many of the cast having acted in Shakespeare productions in real life, and all of the cast doing such a great job, it deserves more exposure.  I was not even able to find a trailer for the film to post with this review, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it is well worth seeing.)

Year of release: 2012

Director: Simon Reade

Producers: Simon Reade, Guy de Beaujeu

Writers: Simon Reade, Guy de Beaujeu, William Shakespeare (play ‘Twelfth Night’)

Main cast: Oliver Dimsdale, Ferdy Roberts, Nicholas Tennant, Alex Avery, Sandy Foster, Poppy Miller, Victoria Moseley, Gemma Saunders

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Othello at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (2007)

Posted in Period drama/comedy reviews, Theatre, TV/Film adaptation reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This is a review of a live performance at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, and which was televised.

The story of Othello is a well known one, combining love, jealousy and betrayal.  Othello (Eamonn Walker) marries Desdemona (Zoe Tapper), and his jealous soldier Iago (Tim McInnery) conspires to make Othello believe – wrongly – that Desdemona has cheated on him.  Othello’s jealousy and rage wreaks devastating results.

What a fabulous production this was – I only wish I could have seen it live, rather than a televised performance.  Eamonn Walker was just superb as the title character – perfectly displaying in the first part of the play exactly why Desdemona has fallen in love with him (quite frankly, who wouldn’t fall in love with him?!)  He is noble, wise and devoted to his wife.  Which makes his breakdown as a result of his belief that his wife has been unfaithful, all the more devastating.  It is truly a stunningly good performance.  The same can be said of Tim McInnery, who played the diabolical Iago with such aplomb, bringing menace and humour to the role.

Zoe Tapper as Desdemona, and Lorraine Burroughs as Emilia both looked beautiful, and were excellent in their respective roles.  In fact, there was no weak link in the cast at all.  The staging was simple but effective, and the costumes were glorious.  But more importantly, the play was incredibly compelling and dramatic – at a little over three hours, it is not a short play, but every minute is worth watching.

I strongly recommend this, especially but not only, for Shakespeare fans.

Year of production: 2007 (first televised in 2008)

Director: Wilson Milam

Writer: William Shakespeare (play)

Main cast: Eamonn Walker, Tim McInnery, Zoe Tapper, Lorraine Burroughs, Sam Crane, Nick Barber

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The Winter’s Tale – Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

Posted in Theatre, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I saw this production at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, in Stratford, on 12th February 2013.  The show that I saw was actually a public understudy run.  This meant that some actors played more than one part (and in one instance, one part was played by two actors).  This is no criticism, and was certainly not confusing.  The public understudy runs are a great way to see a full production for an extremely low price (£5.00 to non-RSC members; £2.50 for RSC members).

The Winter’s Tale is a story of love and misplaced revenge.  It was originally classed as a comedy, but is not now always considered so, although there are some very funny moments in the latter half of the play.  Briefly, King Leontes of Sicilia (wrongly) suspects that his pregnant wife Hermione has been unfaithful with the King’s friend, Polixenes of Bohemia.  He punishes his wife in the most horrible way, but is thrust into despair when he realises that his wife and friend were innocent of any wrong-doing.  Having banished their baby daughter as soon as she was born (believing at the time that she was Polixenes’ daughter, she grows up unaware of her royal heritage, believing that she is the daughter of the shepherd who found her as a baby and brought her up as his own.  However, she falls in love with Florizel – who is the son of King Polixenes…..

Considering that the cast and crew had just four days to prepare for this production, and that everyone was playing a different part to that which they normally play (the understudies are all part of the main cast), this production was excellent.  I was particularly impressed with Phil Snowden, who played the dual roles of Antigonus (the subject of the famous stage direction, “Exit pursued by a bear”) and the old Shepherd, who brings up the baby he finds.  He was distinctive in each role, and provided a lot of humour as the shepherd, aided by his character’s son, the young Shepherd (the two shepherds’ first names are not revealed), played by Kieran Knowles.  Duncan Wisbey, who played Autolycus, a roguish pedlar (and who plays Antigonus in the main cast) was also superb and extremely humorous.  Bethan Walker who in this production played both Hermione and Perdita was very impressive, and I really felt for her Hermione.

This is not my favourite Shakespeare – in some parts of the first half, it is actually quite a disturbing play, with Leontes becoming so doubting of his pregnant wife, and actually punching her in the stomach at one point.  The second half was much lighter, with much of the aforementioned humour to relieve the tension, and the story is rounded off nicely.

The staging was impressive, with a scene of bohemian decadence to show Leontes’ palace.  There was also some considerable use of CGI, which worked well, and for some reason, a huge sort of water tower, the reason for which was unfathomable, but nonetheless it somehow worked.

Overall, I enjoyed the production and thought it was very well done.  Another triumph for the RSC!

(For more information about this production, or the Royal Shakespeare Company, please click here.)

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