Times of Change at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 2019 By Sheila T. Cavanagh, Emory University 2019 marked a transition in leadership at Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) from Bill Rauch to Nataki Garrett. This final season of Rauch’s tenure as Artistic Director presented a host of remarkable productions, although the strongest plays suggest that OSF might currently be […]
Richard III, Directed by Garry Hynes for DruidShakespeare, White Lights Festival, Lincoln Center, Gerald W. Lunch Theater at John Jay College, November 7-23, 2019, Reviewed on November 23, 2019. Reviewed by James Loehlin. Druid is a leading Irish theatre company based in Galway, perhaps best known for premiering contemporary work like Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen […]
Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Sierra Trinchet for New World Shakespeare Company, at the Wasatch Theatre Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, 8 September 2019. Reviewed by David W. Hartwig (Weber State University) New World Shakespeare Company’s raison d’etre is to make Shakespeare’s works accessible to modern audiences. The company has adopted a race-blind and […]
The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster, Directed by Beth Burns for The Hidden Room, York Rite Masonic Hall, Austin TX, Sept 27 – Oct 20, 2019, reviewed on October 20, 2019 (www.hiddenroomtheatre.com). Reviewed by James Loehlin, University of Texas The Duchess of Malfi extends the Hidden Room Theatre’s project of marshalling historical performance techniques for potent contemporary […]
Julius Caesar, dir. Danielle Irvine, September 1, 2019 at Perchance Theatre at Cupids (NL) Reviewed by Tracy O’Brien Director Danielle Irvine had no shortage of real-world inspiration on which to draw for Perchance Theatre’s production of Julius Caesar this summer. In an era dominated by “fake news” and social media, it is easy to forget […]
Measure for Measure, translated and directed by Jack Nieborg, Shakespeare Theater Diever, The Netherlands, 7 September 2019. Review by Paul Franssen (Utrecht University) As usual in Diever, the auditorium was split in two by the narrow central stage. Spectators were faced with the one-dimensional outline of a row of houses in the middle, and churches […]
Othello, Shakespeare Company of Japan and Pirikap, dir. Kazumi Shimodate and Debo Akibe. Tara Arts, London. 7 August 2019 By Sarah Olive It’s a popular fallacy in Japan that it is difficult to produce Othello because the country is too culturally homogenous: fallacious because, in Japan, there are several marginalised indigenous populations plus zainichi Koreans […]
King Lear, dir. & libretto by Joke Hoolboom. Holland Opera, Jong Nederlands Blazers Ensemble and “155” dance group. Utrecht, Fort Rijnauwen, 12 July 2019. Review by Paul Franssen (Utrecht University) Holland Opera, formerly known as Xynix, has a long history of musical adaptations of Shakespeare, particularly for the young, including children’s versions of Romeo and […]
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare from Russia. Part of the RSC open air Dell performances, July 2019. Reviewed by Sara Marie Westh Sometimes you stumble on something truly excellent, and it becomes all the more so by being unexpected. I have attended the RSC Dell performances for several years now, and have enjoyed myself […]
Hamlet directed by K.D. Schmidt for the Mainz State Theatre, Mainz, Germany. March 13, 2019 And A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Hilmar Jónsson for the National Theatre of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland. March 16, 2019. Reviewed by Justin B. Hopkins I went on holiday to Germany, with a long layover in Iceland on the way […]
