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 […]
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 […]
Timon of Athens by Teatro Praga at the Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal, 2019 Reviewed by Francesca Rayner After years of non-performance in Portugal, Timon of Athens has been produced twice in the past few years; firstly in a production directed by Nuno Cardoso in 2018 and now in 2019 in a performance […]
King Lear, translated and directed by Jack Nieborg, Shakespeare Theater Diever, The Netherlands, 8 September 2018. Reviewed by by Paul Franssen (Utrecht University) This year, the Diever amateur theatre had chosen King Lear for their annual production. In line with some other recent stage adaptations of Shakespeare plays, the tragedy was set in the world of […]
Julia & Romeo; directed by Jussi Nikkilä for the Finnish National Theater in Helsinki, Finland. Adaptation by Anna Viitala based on a translation by Marja-Leena Mikkola. 4 Oct 2018 Reviewed by Nely Keinänen (University of Helsinki) In 2016, the director Jussi Nikkilä did an excellent production of Richard III on one of the smaller stages […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]