Being Shakespeare, Trafalgar Studios

A brisk one-man tour of Shakespeare entertains and informs, albeit a little glibly

by Alexandra CoghlanWednesday, 22 June 2011

All the world's a stage: Simon Callow and Jonathan Bate bring Shakespeare to life

There’s a lovely moment in A Midsummer Night’s Dream where Peter Quince assigns roles to his company of rude mechanicals. Unsatisfied with the part of the hero, Bottom interrupts, insisting he be allowed to play not only Pyramus but heroine Thisbe too, as well of course as the murderous lion. It’s hard not to see just a little of Bottom’s eagerness in Simon Callow’s Being Shakespeare – a one-man show penned by Jonathan Bate that casts Callow as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Lear, Falstaff and Puck.

The whole has the effect of really excellent BBC documentary, or perhaps a guest lecture at a prominent university

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