Othello, dir. Daria Bukvic. Tr. Esther Duysker. Het Nationale Theater. Utrecht, Podium Hoge Woerd, 24 February 2018. Review by Paul Franssen (Utrecht University) Few recent Dutch Shakespeare productions have come in for more advance publicity than this Othello. Indeed, it was a remarkable production. For director Daria Bukvic, the central issue of Othello was race: […]
King Lear, Het Zuidelijk Toneel and het Paleis, directed by Simon de Vos. Utrecht, Stadsschouwburg, 2 February 2018. Review by Paul Franssen (Utrecht University) Like other recent Shakespeare adaptations in the Low Countries, such as Tom Lanoye’s Queen Lear and his Hamlet vs. Hamlet, this production treated the original very freely, changing many features to […]
Titus Andronicus; directed by Paata Tsikurishvili for Synetic Theater, Arlington, Virginia, USA. May 19, 2018. Reviewed by Justin B. Hopkins, Franklin and Marshall College. Titus Andronicus is Synetic Theater’s thirteenth entry in its wordless Shakespeare series. (Note: For convenience, I will refer to the play as Shakespeare’s, though I acknowledge the consensus that it was a […]
1. Uluslararası Shakespeare Festivali: The First International Shakespeare Festival in Turkey Reviewed by Anna Carleton Forrester On the homepage for the first international Shakespeare festival in Turkey a banner reads “Prometheus of World Literature Honors Turkey.” But over the course of ten days, the organizers, scholars, students, and contributors of the inaugural festival, hosted at […]
Macbeth @ The National Theatre, dir. Rufus Norris, 2018 Reviewed by Ronan Hatfull Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest and sharpest tragedy, demonstrating the playwright’s mastery of the tightly-coiled thriller. What a pity, therefore, that Rufus Norris’s production of Macbeth fails to fulfil the promise shown by Rory Kinnear and Anne-Marie Duff in 2016, when they performed […]
Volpone by Ben Jonson, directed by Brent Griffin, Curtain Theater, Austin, Texas, 25 March, 2018. Reviewed by Michael Saenger Ben Jonson’s particular brand of moral satire suits the times. There are no heroes in Volpone, though Celia and Bonario have, at least, the moral character to qualify for valor, if not the psychological breadth that […]
The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster, directed by Maria Aberg, RSC, Swan Theatre, 8 March 2018 Reviewed by Peter Malin I hadn’t intended to review this production but, given its enthusiastic reception in the press, I thought a dissenting voice might be of some value. In 2014, Maria Aberg inflicted considerable damage on Webster’s […]
Hamlet, directed by Kemal Aydoğan and translated by Onur Ünsal and Emre Adıyaman at the Moda Sahnesi Theatre, Istanbul, Turkey Reviewed by Anna Carleton Forrester, University of Georgia One does not have to be well-versed in Turkish or in Shakespeare to appreciate the intention and artistry behind Kemal Aydoğan’s Hamlet of the Moda Sahnesi […]
Fırtına: A Turkish Tempest. Directed by Kemal Aydoğan and translated by Emine Ayhan at the Moda Sahnesi Theatre, Istanbul, Turkey Reviewed by Anna Carleton Forrester, University of Georgia Kemal Aydoğan’s Fırtına, an adaptation of The Tempest, was one of two Shakespeare plays scheduled for the Istanbul Theatre Festival (November 13-26), and will continue its […]
Julius Caesar, dir. Michiel de Regt. Performance: Orkater. Music: K.O. Brass! Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, 2 December 2017. Reviewed by Paul Franssen (Utrecht University). Like many productions of Julius Caesar nowadays, Orkater’s staging transposed the action to the modern age. No togas, therefore, but modern dress, and modern instruments too: for this production replaced much of the […]
