After their runaway success Pyramus & Thisbe, the Midsummer Mechanicals returned to tread the boards once more, this time as part of the Duke’s anniversary celebrations. Though it wasn’t plain sailing the first time round, what with Bottom suddenly acquiring a donkey’s head, they’re set for a few more challenges in this follow-up – and […]
Read More Midsummer Mechanicals 2022I’m not going to have a go at anyone who has posted a list of their favourite things from 2020, or what they consider to be the best; we’re all dealing with the current situation in our own way, and for some people it’s easiest to carry on with as many ‘normal’ things as possible […]
Read More 2020: A few of my favourite thingsAgainst all odds, Mind the Blog managed to gather very nearly the same amount of hits in 2020 as it did in 2019 – considering the fact that theatres were only open for about a quarter of the year, and that I became too knackered to put many new posts out from the autumn onwards, […]
Read More Most popular posts of 2020As previous Shakespeare-related challenge weeks have been based almost solely in London, I’ve enjoyed taking the Bard out to Somerset for the majority of this #MindTheBard week. Disappointingly there don’t seem to be any records of Shakespeare’s players visiting the region during his lifetime, however I am one for tenuous connections (hence ‘2 Bard 2 […]
Read More #MindTheBard 2020: Shakespeare & SomersetI’m afraid Shakespeare in Love got it wrong on several counts – one of which is demonstrated here by The Show Must Go Online swiftly following up Romeo & Juliet with the perennially popular A Midsummer Night’s Dream. On paper a straightforward leap from tragedy to comedy, but I think you’ll find it’s a little more complicated than that… […]
Read More The Show Must Go Online: A Midsummer Night’s DreamReading that the Globe may struggle to come back from this current crisis without the help of donations and emergency funding didn’t seem quite real. When they announced their forthcoming summer shows back in January, I must admit that I did wonder whether the rather bland programming had come about because there were some financial […]
Read More Shakespeare’s Globe: “Parting is such sweet sorrow”One of the most remarkable things about the ongoing situation in which we find ourselves is how swiftly the arts responded; many individuals were out of work pretty much overnight, with no reassurance over their financial state, but all the same they were quickly into actions – keeping themselves busy and entertaining the rest of […]
Read More Midsummer Night StreamHopefully, by now you’re familiar with the phenomenon that is The Show Must Go Online. The project was put together in a week in response to the COVID-19 crisis, which has seen theatres shut down and left actors & creatives out of work. They are working their way through Shakespeare’s repertoire of 37 plays, in […]
Read More The Show Must Go Online: “Imagine the heat Macbeth would get for killing Sir Patrick Stewart!”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, […]
Read More Never Mind The Blog… Here’s Shakespeare Day 2020Following on from the instant success of the first National Theatre At Home streaming event on Thursday night (Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors, starring James Corden), it’s got me thinking about all the other wonderful NT Live screenings that I’d love to come to the small screen as part of this series. Over the next […]
Read More Wish list: National Theatre At Home
Mind the blog 