Play by Candlelight 2021-22: preview

You know things are starting to feel a bit more normal when Shakespeare’s Globe is able to announce their winter season, with a return to the beautiful candlelit surroundings of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Intriguingly, this will be the first time that £5 tickets for productions in this performance space, with 48 standing tickets available in […]

#MindTheBard 2020: “What country, friends, is this?” – Twelfth Night preview

Orsino is in love with Olivia, and spends his days sending gifts & messages to her, pining away in his own home. Olivia does not love him, and so refuses him every time – even news that she will remain in mourning for both her father and brother for seven years doesn’t put him off! […]

#MindTheBard 2020: “Who’s there?” – Hamlet preview

Student Prince Hamlet returns to Elsinore upon his father’s death, only to see his uncle Claudius take the throne and marry Gertrude (Hamlet’s mother). Meanwhile, castle guards are convinced they’ve seen the ghost of old King Hamlet and inform Horatio, who decides he must tell his friend Hamlet; following a one-to-one with the ghost, Hamlet […]

Isolation Ensemble: “Your sense of connection to your fellow actors is still very much present”

In times of adversity, creativity doesn’t grind to a complete halt – how else do you think theatre has survived since its birth in Ancient Greece over 2,500 years ago? Instead it adapts to the conditions in which it finds itself, making the most of the options available. In the case of the coronavirus crisis, […]

Never Mind The Blog… Here’s Shakespeare Day 2020

We can’t be 100% certain, but it is widely accepted that William Shakespeare was born on 23 April 1564 – and died on the same date in 1616. Though the theatres are closed, that doesn’t mean we can’t mark Shakespeare Day in alternative ways… News The RSC has closed the Swan Theatre until the autumn, […]

Never Mind The Blog… Here’s World Theatre Day 2020

Not the usual way we’d all like to be spending World Theatre Day, but if you do want to mark it in some form then there are plenty of creative options available. News The National Theatre is due to begin a series of NT Live streaming events on YouTube; they will take place every […]

Globe 2020: “This wooden O”

I really enjoyed the last summer season overall (despite now being almost completely sworn off returning to the groundling life – people are just too rude & inconsiderate for me to countenance it as a viable option), and the 2019/20 winter season has just gone above and beyond so far. The Wars of the Roses […]

Coming up in 2020…

What I’d usually do here is say I’m aiming to be sensible again, but that clearly doesn’t work – at the most it lasts about one or two months and then anything goes… So I’ll just say that I’ll think carefully about my reviewing commitments, and then everything else can sort itself out organically. What […]

Play by Candlelight 2019/20: preview

With the summer season over, we now retreat into the cosier confines of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse for the next winter season at Shakespeare’s Globe: She Wolves and Shrews. As well as several offerings from the Bard, there will also be a contribution from one of his close collaborators, plus a couple of pieces of […]

A View From The Bridge: “A hugely contentious political issue”

“Just remember, kid, you can quicker get back a million dollars that was stole than a word that you gave away.” This Arthur Miller classic began life as a one-act play (first staged on Broadway in September 1955), before being developed into a more substantial two-act play – it premièred at the New Watergate theatre […]