Despite my love for all things Shakespeare, it has been over ten years since I last saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream performed live.* Therefore, Hamlet Isn’t Dead’s intimate production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Westbeth Artists Community was an enjoyable re-introduction to one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies with a strong, energetic ensemble of […]
A mixture of ballet and theatre can be enjoyed at Lilian Baylis Studio until June 29th. Dancing with the Devil tells the story of the famous Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. Diagnosed with AIDS, he spends the last years of his life hallucinating and dreaming of the past. The audience is able to follow his […]
A mixture of confusion and admiration is felt throughout Iqbal Khan’s production of Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe. The admiration is due to the quality of the acting; the confusion has its roots in the particular choices on the director’s part. The first point to mention is the fact that the Macbeth couple has a little […]
It’s tempting to criticize Peter Hinton’s new adaptation of Alice in Wonderland for its emptiness. There is no real story, no great moral, no particular meaning, not even a coherent character to invest in beyond Tara Rosling’s cute but fairly blank-slate Alice. That feels like a flaw of the production but, let’s just be honest, […]
No one really goes to the circus anymore. It feels outdated. The acrobats, the animals and the amazement are a thing of the past. People prefer the theatre because they only think of circus in its original form dating back to the turn of the century. This is slowly in the process of changing thanks […]
The power of silence in theatre is impressive. There is often no need for music when the emotions felt on stage are strong enough to relay to the audience. But this can be difficult to do when there is only one actor on stage. This is no challenge for Molly Vevers in her performance of […]
Set in Newfoundland in 1985, director Jillian Keiley’s production of Shakespeare’s irresistible pastoral is simple, lighthearted and creative. A bare stage gets its sense of place from the actors (designer Bretta Gerecke‘s comical ’80s costuming, accents of varying effectiveness) and the audience. The crowd is armed with grab bags full of participatory aids like bleating […]
Self-assured though with no emotional investment, Phillip Ridley’s Karagula is messy, tame sci-fi. Despite deft touches on the production side (read: design), the work never clinches the operatic status it desires. On another planet, a milkshake-drinking society that habitually sacrifices its Prom King and Queen is in crisis; intercut with this we see (unclear where […]