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 […]
Love’s Labour’s Lost, directed by Bronwyn Barnwell, at The Shakespeare Institute, February 2019 Reviewed by Sara Marie Westh There is a part of Love’s Labour’s Lost I never liked. It is not the ending – I rather like that no one gets off easy. It is not the weird Russian masquerade either – it is […]
Richard II directed by Dr Charles Morton. Ketterer’s Men at the Shakespeare Institute, 27-30 September 2018. Reviewed by Sara Marie Westh Bear with me. I am reminded of the final scenes of Ratatouille, where the irascible reviewer, Ego, finds himself forced by his conscience to admit the brilliance of the place he is reviewing. He ruminates that “In […]
The Dutch Lady, directed by Robert Ball for FRED theatre, at the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford upon Avon, 6/7 2017. Reviewed by Sara Marie Westh It is an unusual treat, and a privilege, for any early modernist to watch a play that has not been acted for more than three centuries – not to mention reviewing […]
Titus Andronicus at The RST, dir. Blanche McIntyre, 1/7/2017. Reviewed by Sara Marie Westh The red warning posters warns prospective audience members at the RST that the play they are about to see is Shakespeare’s bloodiest, and that it contains “bad language”. The former statement is undoubtedly true, while the latter appears to pass judgement of […]
Henry V dir. John-Robert Partridge for Tread the Boards Theatre Company at the Attic Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, England, April 2017. Reviewed by Sara Marie Westh, University of Birmingham. I should begin this review by admitting that Henry V is my favourite Shakespeare play. In the current political climate, a highly jingoistic tale about English […]
The Dark Horse by Rosemary Anne Sisson, FRED theatre, Directed by Robert Ball at The Shakespeare Institute, May 2016 Reviewed by Sara Marie Westh I always wondered why Shakespeare left Henry VII out of the histories. My peers jokingly claim that the playwright detested Henry for being the dullest king ever. During his brief appearances […]
Hamlets; directed by Daniel Tyler for The Young REP at the Birmingham Library, Birmingham, UK. 21 March 2015, [the only] matinee. Reviewed by Thea Buckley and Sara Marie Westh Hamlet and Hamlet is the singular traditional pinnacle of theatrical achievement, the measuring stick held up to the actor’s self and the world. But with great […]
Directed by Maria Kjærgaard-Sunesen for The Royal Danish Theatre at The Royal Danish Playhouse. 23 May 2014. Lacquer red doors opening smoothly and silently at the slightest touch, black floors polished to a dull gleam reflect hazy shadows back up at us, warm, golden lightbulbs framing square mirrors bathe the scene in a glow like […]
