This Wooden O: The Tempest (2022)

For me, despite its poetical brilliance, The Tempest is a difficult play to get right. Its central figure is a man who has become more and more reliant on magic, claiming ownership over an island when he was deposed from his dukedom – and the tone of the comic relief side plot doesn’t always blend […]

#MindTheBard: King Lear / Julius Caesar / Richard III

King Lear, Globe Theatre ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I’ve been reluctant to revisit King Lear since seeing the Chichester production (starring Ian McKellen), as it was pretty much the perfect production in the perfect venue, but when Kathryn Hunter was announced as the titular monarch in this Globe season I thought it was about time I gave the play another […]

Challenge Week 2022: Mind The Bard

We’ve had Mind The Bard, we’ve had Mind The Bard: 2 Bard 2 Spurious, we’ve had Mind The Bard 3: Hospital Shift – and now… Mind The Bard 4: Tyrant Fever. I’m hoping this will rejuvenate my will to write a bit more, as I’ve been severely lacking over the past few weeks – despite […]

Out of 2021 – Into 2022

I’m slightly more ahead of the game this year than last year, as this is my official follow-up to my ‘favourite things‘, favourite digital shows & favourite in-person shows posts; a round-up of 2021 and a glance ahead to 2022. The main thing dominating the blog in 2021 was motivation – or lack thereof. It’s […]

#MindTheBard 2021: round-up

You know what? I think this hybrid form of challenge week might be here to stay. Despite the fact that it’s taken me almost a week to write this round-up post, it’s actually felt pretty manageable – and I don’t know whether I’ll have the energy to go out to the theatre every single night […]

This Wooden O: Romeo & Juliet (2021)

“Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” The traditional view of Romeo & Juliet is that of a tragic love story, but is that all it ever has to be? Not if you’re Ola Ince. Her brand new production of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, having been delayed by COVID in 2020, has finally […]

#MindTheBard: Broken Heart (Romeo & Juliet)

Let’s just say this hasn’t been the most typical of weeks, as far as the Giant Microbes are concerned, as the final pick is ‘broken heart’ – inspired by Romeo & Juliet. Though the two lovers don’t die of broken hearts, the combination of living in the pressure cooker of a familial feud (the Montagues & […]

#MindTheBard: Pox (All’s Well That Ends Well)

The great pox, or syphilis, crops up a fair amount in Shakespeare – ‘pox’ appears 23 times across 15 plays, basically thanks to it being a byword for ‘curse’ (kind of like ‘fuck this’ or ‘screw that’ now). Giant Microbes went for All’s Well That Ends Well, which I’m glad about as I’ve only seen it […]

#MindTheBard: Blood (Macbeth)

Obviously blood isn’t a disease, but its presence or absence is clearly a key difference between life & death – or, if you’re one of the Macbeths, a guilty reminder of the foul deeds on their CV. There is an awful lot of bloodshed in the Scottish Play, be it in battle, a guestroom regicide, […]

#MindTheBard: Leprosy (Henry VI, part 2)

Ah, leprosy. A disease (along with gout, syphilis & rabies) that for some reason makes me snigger, despite how terrible it would actually be to have it. It’s mentioned in a few of Shakespeare’s plays, but as the Henry VI Henriad is such a rarity, I thought this was the one to go for. This part […]