Friday, March 3, 2023
Two theatres, one concept, but no lasting sparks from Shakespeare's tragi-comedy
As course after course of Noma-style creations are served up to Leontes and his guests – curious mouthfuls …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 07:06PMThursday, November 25, 2021
A noisy, busy comedy that loses its anchor somewhere in the chaos
“Am I myself?” At the tangled centre of Shakespeare’s comedy of two pairs of identical twins, servant Dromio asks the…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:33AMTuesday, July 27, 2021
A timely return for Tennessee Williams' long-neglected play
It’s the trivia question no one ever thought to ask: where was the only Tennessee Williams play premiered outside America first …
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:42AMSaturday, February 8, 2020
High on concept and low on clarity, this Shrew misses its mark
Say what you will about The Taming of the Shrew (and you’ll be in good company), but it is one of Shakespeare’s clearest pl…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:03AMWednesday, November 7, 2018
Erica Whyman's RSC production finds youthful energy but not clarityIt’s clear from the start – from a Prologue that quickly dissolves familiar rhythms and words into a Babel of clam…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 06:12AMTuesday, July 3, 2018
Blanche McIntyre finds coherence in this uneven play but at what cost?“A sad tale’s best for winter,” Leontes’ young son Mamillius tells us. By that logic the current summer heatwave…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 03:18AMThursday, May 17, 2018
Songs silenced by the Nazis get a powerful new voiceThe show’s subtitle – “Songs banned by the Nazis” – is a catchy one, and somewhere under the confetti, the stilettos, the extrav…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 05:32AMFriday, May 4, 2018
A strong cast can't quite pull off the author's most political playAcross London last night politicians waited anxiously to hear their fates, and things were no different at the Va…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 08:04AMMonday, March 19, 2018
★★★★★ VIVALDI'S THE FOUR SEASONS, SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE beguilingly beautiful show from the UK's most exciting puppeteersA beguilingly beautiful show from the UK's most exci…
SOURCE: theartsdesk.com at 12:00AMSunday, March 18, 2018
A beguilingly beautiful show from the UK's most exciting puppeteersVivaldi’s The Four Seasons: A Reimagining – it’s not a title that trips off the tongue. Nor one, frankly, that i…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:00PMFriday, November 24, 2017
Finally, a new play worthy of the Globe's Wanamaker PlayhouseThe Globe’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse may be a historical recreation, but the same shouldn’t be true of the plays staged …
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:54AMWednesday, August 16, 2017
A tragedy so quiet it proves almost inaudible at timesEvery play is a Brexit play. This much we have learnt in the year since the referendum. But in Nancy Meckler’s hands the Globe’s new…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 09:04PMFriday, July 21, 2017
It's fiesta time in Matthew Dunster's colourful new showWhen I say that Matthew Dunster’s Much Ado is revolutionary I’m not talking about the many textual updatings and rewriti…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:12AMMonday, July 10, 2017
This new history play gets bogged down in period detailHow well do you know your British history? Fancy explaining the causes and origins of the Glorious Revolutions or listing the members o…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:24PMSaturday, June 17, 2017
Robert Icke finds new truths in old words in this captivating productionMidway through Hamlet a troupe of actors arrives at Elsinore. Coaching them for his own ends, the prince turns directo…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 05:48AMThursday, May 25, 2017
Shakespeare's cross-dressing comedy gets the high-seas treatment, but loses the poetryThe Globe’s artistic director Emma Rice has made no secret of her desire to go out with a bang, i…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 07:33AMFriday, February 24, 2017
Shakespeare's comedy gets bogged down in this messy production“The nine men’s morris is filled up with mud, and the quaint mazes in the wanton green for lack of tread are undistingu…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 04:54AMThursday, February 23, 2017
Tamsin Greig leads an superb cast in this giddy take on Shakespeare's classic comedyEverybody’s a little bit gay in in Simon Godwin’s giddy new Twelfth Night at the National Theatre…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:54AMWednesday, February 1, 2017
This pitch black production of Webster's revenge tragedy is pitch perfectIt was no accident that when the Globe's Sam Wanamaker Playhouse opened in 2014 it was with The Duchess of Malfi…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 08:54PMFriday, December 16, 2016
These sunny comedies are rich in delight but lacking in darkness“The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo.” A sudden cold breeze blows through the endless summer afternoo…
SOURCE: The Arts Desk at 06:48AM 
