Globe
The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare's GlobeFriday, 01 May 2015
There’s a certainty, a reassurance that comes with attending a Globe show. You know that however bad things get, however bloodied the stage at final curtain, however bruised the relationships on stage, everyone – corpses and all – will rise and come... Read more... |
We Made It: Candle Maker Ted ThompsonSaturday, 25 April 2015
The arts will always rely on craft – and that goes a hundredfold when period detail is important. The atmosphere of Sam Wanamaker's recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in Southwark is dependent on, among many other things, the candles that... Read more... |
The Broken Heart, Sam Wanamaker PlayhouseThursday, 19 March 2015
Jacobean playwright John Ford is flavour of the season at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. His better-known, and simply better, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, opened the venue’s new programme last autumn and is followed now by that work’s younger sibling, The... Read more... |
Farinelli and the King, Sam Wanamaker PlayhouseSaturday, 21 February 2015
Farinelli and The King is pretty much a perfect piece of theatre. More importantly, though, it’s perfectly timed. In a month when English National Opera’s troubles have made the front page, when op-eds are all about why Simon Rattle’s dreams of a... Read more... |
The Changeling, Sam Wanamaker PlayhouseWednesday, 21 January 2015
Ever been stuck in a claustrophobic space with a group of really unpleasant people? Add mayhem, murder and the kind of razor-sharp wit to be found in only a very few of the nastiest individuals, and you have Dominic Dromgoole’s candlelit production... Read more... |
'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Sam Wanamaker PlayhouseWednesday, 29 October 2014
So TFL have banned the Globe’s posters for ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore for being too racy. What a gift. They couldn’t have given the production a better advertising boost if they’d covered every single one of their thousands of billboards with the... Read more... |
Andrew Logan’s Alternative Miss World, Globe TheatreTuesday, 21 October 2014
On Saturday at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Alternative Miss World was staged for the 13th time. Having launched this gloriously tacky event in his Hackney studio in 1972, artist Andrew Logan promises to carry on the tradition until the day he dies; but... Read more... |
The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare's GlobeThursday, 04 September 2014
It begins sombrely, with the grave recounting of a shipwreck, but such emotive moments are fleeting: as the drama ratchets up, it only serves to fuel the splendid zaniness of Shakespeare's 1594 farce. Granted, it's not his most nuanced comedy – the... Read more... |
Holy Warriors, Shakespeare’s GlobeThursday, 24 July 2014
While it is something of a cliché to be reminded that forgetting the past is a sure way of repeating it, the problems of the Middle East are so acute that this thought might be worth taking seriously. In Holy Warriors, playwright David Eldridge’s... Read more... |
Pinnock's Passions, Handel's Garden, Sam Wanamaker PlayhouseTuesday, 08 July 2014
The latest in a series of "Pinnock’s Passions" concerts at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse saw the doyen of period instrument performance lead a delightful exploration of Handel the musical borrower, entitled "Handel’s Garden". As Trevor Pinnock writes... Read more... |
Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s GlobeThursday, 03 July 2014
For those who believe spin is if not a modern invention, then at least a modern fascination, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar offers a sharp rejoinder. Interpretation, manipulation and persuasion pervade this incisive drama about the assassination of the... Read more... |
Jordi Savall, Sam Wanamaker PlayhouseTuesday, 24 June 2014
Jordi Savall has spent half a century combining instrumental performance on the viola da gamba with being the leader of ensembles of pioneering scholarship. Now in his early 70s, he has certainly had the recognition he deserves: a Grammy (he has... Read more... |
