Shakespeare
The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses - Richard III, BBC TwoSunday, 22 May 2016
Benedict Cumberbatch, it turns out, was born to play the blasted, blighted Richard III, as one might expect from an actor whose long-term apprenticeship to both classical theatre and television converged to bring the BBC's Hollow Crown series to a... Read more... |
King John, Rose Theatre, KingstonSaturday, 21 May 2016
According to Sellar and Yeatman in 1066 and All That, the true Bible of English history, King John was a Bad (to be exact, an Awful) King. Shakespeare had quite an interest in Bad Kings – Richards II and III were also subjected to his... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Mozart, Vivancos, Rufus WainwrightSaturday, 21 May 2016
Mozart: Serenade in B flat major, 'Gran Partita', Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble/Trevor Pinnock (Linn)Mozart's Gran Partita is a multi-movement work longer than many romantic symphonies, hardly what we'd expect from a serenade. It's... Read more... |
'We played to the Queen of Denmark. We did a turn for Barack Obama'Sunday, 15 May 2016
A few days after two Taliban rockets had quivered in the Afghan skies above us, I found myself looking up at an altogether different set of heavens in the Sistine Chapel. Moments of reflection on this tour were, out of necessity, brief; our schedule... Read more... |
Cunk on Shakespeare, BBC TwoThursday, 12 May 2016
Parodic ignoramus Philomena Cunk has been flaunting her narrow cultural horizons on Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe for many years, and more recently extended her shallow range to such weighty issues as feminism and the financial crisis in her Moments... Read more... |
Upstart Crow, BBC TwoTuesday, 10 May 2016
Time was when the words “a new sitcom from Ben Elton” wouldn't make anyone's heart quicken with anticipation. I think it's fair to say that after the glorious Blackadder (1983-89), he struggled to write anything so brilliantly, giddily funny, but... Read more... |
Brighton Festival: Digging for Shakespeare, Roedale AllotmentsMonday, 09 May 2016
Of all the 400th anniversary tributes to Shakespeare, this ramble through an allotment just outside Brighton has to be one of the oddest, and most unexpectedly moving. Brighton Festival has a reputation for site-specific work, rediscovering secret... Read more... |
The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses - Henry VI Part 1, BBC TwoSunday, 08 May 2016
Allegedly one of the worst plays Shakespeare wrote (which he may have done in cahoots with Thomas Nashe), the first part of Henry VI emerged victorious from this TV adaptation. Whereas one might think twice about chopping and rejigging Hamlet or... Read more... |
10 Questions for Artistic Director Emma RiceSaturday, 07 May 2016
In his last minutes as the artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe, Dominic Dromgoole took to the stage to reflect on his years at the helm. Behind him was the cast of Hamlet, home after two years on the road playing to audiences from every country... Read more... |
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's GlobeFriday, 06 May 2016
In this 400th anniversary year, amid what feels like 400 million shows and tributes, it’s increasingly difficult for a Shakespeare production to stand out. No such problem for Emma Rice’s opening salvo, which responds to those critical of her... Read more... |
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Middle Temple HallTuesday, 03 May 2016
You rarely see a full production of Shakespeare's dream play so magical it brings tears to the eyes. But then you don't often get 42 players and 14 voices joining the cast to adorn the text with Mendelssohn's bewitching incidental music, plus the... Read more... |
Kings of War, Toneelgroep Amsterdam, BarbicanMonday, 25 April 2016
Banished from the Barbican are the hollow kings of the mediocre RSC Henrys IV and V. In their place comes a whole new procession of living, breathing monarchs in a vision that's light years away from bad heritage Shakespeare. Doyen of Dutch-Belgian... Read more... |
