Macbeth, directed and adapted by Richard Engling for Polarity Ensemble Theatre at the Greenhouse Theater Center in Chicago, Illinois, 22 February 2014. Review by Regina Buccola. In the program for the Polarity Ensemble Theatre (PET) production of Macbeth, director Richard Engling asserts that Macbeth emerges in his production as a scapegoat in the strictest sense […]
Dir. Josie Rourke. NT Live broadcast seen 30/1/2014 at Stratford-upon-Avon Picturehouse Review by Will Sharpe (Originally published on his blog, sharpe as a pen, on 1 March 2014.) A Coriolanus that couldn’t be seen live for love nor money. I wonder why. Cramming Tom Hiddleston – subject of the molten desire of millions – into a space […]
Coriolanus, directed by Nuno Cardoso for Ao Cabo Teatro @ Teatro Nacional Dona Maria II, Lisbon, Portugal. Seen on 25th January, 2014 Review by Francesca Rayner An economic and social crisis on the scale of the one that currently afflicts Portugal brings forth unlikely heroes. The judges of the Constitutional Court, for example, have […]
Suspense, London Puppetry Festival, Little Angel Theatre, London. 18 October 2013. Cast and Creative Team Puppeteers – Claire Harvey, Lori Hopkins, and Lowri James. Director – Peter Glanville Puppet Designer –Lyndie Wright Lighting Designer –David Duffy Costume designer –Keith Frederick Composer –James Hesford Set and Prop makers – Peter O´Rourke and Nele de […]
Directed by Dan Jemmett. Review by Ruth Morse Anyone who has crossed the Channel on a Eurostar train is likely to have seen the French poster which depicts a standing skeleton holding a fleshly human head at arm’s length. In France it is an instantly recognizable reference to the phrase ‘To be or not to be’, […]
Cymbeline, directed by Sâmir Bhamra for Phizzical at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, Northern Ireland. 29 October 2013. Review by Sonja Kleij, Romano Mullin, and Matt Williamson. It is clear from the start that this is no ordinary production. As Cymbeline begins, the two leads appear to a blast of Indian pop, brandishing microphones and […]
Hamlet, directed by Maciej Englert, Teatr Współczesny w Warszawie, Warsaw, Poland. 30 November 2013. https://www.wspolczesny.pl/ https://www.wspolczesny.pl/repertuar/biezacy/hamlet Review by Magdalena Cieślak The curtain goes up. Centre stage, there is a chair slightly resembling that in Olivier’s Hamlet. A person is sitting in that chair in a pose slightly recalling Olivier’s brooding prince. As courtiers start pouring in, the solitary figure – […]
Antony and Cleopatra, directed by Tarell Alvin McCraney, RSC Swan Theatre, November 2013. Review by Andrew Cowie. When Charles Spencer described the RSC’s 2013 Antony and Cleopatra in The Telegraph newspaper as a ‘travesty’ and ‘a fiasco’ connoisseurs of train-wreck theatre hurried to book their tickets. All the warning signs were there; a young American director, Tarell […]
Hamlet, directed by Mikko Viherjuuri. Tampere Theater, Finland, 8 May 2013. By Nely Kein änen. Mikko Viherjuuri’s Hamlet opens not with a voice calling out “Who’s there?” but with a scene Shakespeare didn’t write (yet composed of lines he did), a private moment between Hamlet, Ophelia and Laertes before they’re forced to join […]
Romeo and Juliet Sydney Theatre Company, Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 1 November 2013. Review by Penny Gay. Kip Williams, one of the new generation of exploratory young theatre directors who are making waves in Sydney and Melbourne, was offered the chance to do his first Shakespeare play by the Sydney Theatre Company’s […]
