A Midsummer Night's Dream

by William Shakespeare

seen at Shakespeare's Globe on 1 August 2019

Sean Holmes directs Peter Bourke as Thesues and Oberon, Victoria Elliott as Hippolita and Titania, and Jocelyn Jee Esien as Bottom, with Ciarán O'Brien as Demetrius, Amanda Wilkin as Helena, Faith Omole as Hermia, Ekow Quartey as Lysander, Billy Seymour as Flute and Mustardseed, Jacoba Williams as Snout and Moth, Rachel Hannah Clark as Snug and Peaseblossom, and Nadine Higgins as Quince, Egeus and Cobweb, in an exuberant production designed by Jean Chan including explosions of riotous colour in the fairy sequences.

Hotspur, Falstaff and Harry England

by William Shakespeare

seen at Shakespeare's Globe on 10 May 2019

The more conventionally named Henry IV Part One, Henry IV Part Two and Henry V have been given alternative titles as a series of 'state-of-the-nation' plays which can be seen independently or, given sufficient stamina, together as today on a 'trilogy day'. The two parts of Henry IV take their alternative titles from characters considered important enough to be named in the expended titles of the original Quarto editions, while the third title reminds us of the intimate connections of Henry V with mythologised ideas about kingship and English greatness as exemplified by this particular warrior king, prompted by his father's advice to distract unhappy citizens from civil unrest by embarking on foreign wars.

The plays, directed by Sarah Bedi and Federay Holmes, are presented by a company of ten actors - five women and five men - joined by Michelle Terry as Hotspur in the first play of the sequence. Sarah Amankwah plays Prince Hal, later King Henry V, in all plays, and takes only one very small doubling part in Falstaff; the others take on all the other roles. In the full texts there are over one hundred parts across all three plays, though there are some cuts in the performance, and given the fluid performance style at the Globe, the changes of role are often signalled by the mere donning of a new cloak and a different posture, sometimes in full view of the audience. During the whole day this rarely led to any confusion from my point of view as a spectator, and only once did an actor definitely address a nobleman by the wrong name in a series of greetings. 

The Two Noble Kinsmen

by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher

seen at Shakespeare's Globe on 31 May 2018

This collaborative play, not included n the First Folio of Shakespeare's collected works, has gained inclusion in modern 'complete' editions, but it is still rarely performed. Barrie Rutter directs Bryan Dick as Arcite, Paul Stocker as Palamon, Ellora Torchia as Emilia, Francesca Mills as the Jailer's daughter, Moyo Akandé as Hippolyta and Jude Akewudike as Theseus in a production that makes a strong case for the play's revival.

The story, used also by Chaucer in his Knight's Tale, concerns the cousins Arcite and Palamon, both tken prisoner by Theseus when he defeats their uncle, and both recognised as valorous men even in captivity. Their intense friendship is broken when both fall in love with Emilia (Hippolyta's sister, Theseus's sister-in-law). In a trice their earnest protestations of eternal loyalty and blissful satisfaction in the joys of amity are forgotten and they are (or want to be) at each other's throats. Theseus releases Arcite to banishment, but he determines to remain close to Emilia despite his peril. The jailer's daughter, in love with Palamon, arranges for his escape but falls into a madness when he ignores her. The two cousins meet again in the forest and decide to fight for Emilia's love; they are interrupted by Theseus and his followers who are out hunting, and the king decrees a formal combat and compels Emilia to accept that the winner will be her husband and the loser will lose his life.

As You Like It

by William Shakespeare

seen at Shakespeare's Globe on 30 May 2018

Federay Holmes and Elle While direct Jack Laskey as Rosalind, Bettrys Jones as Orlando, Nadia Nadarajah as Celia, Pearce Quigley as Jacques and Helen Schlesinger as both Duke Senior and Duke Frederick, with support from others in the company, in this new production paired with Hamlet (reviewed earlier this month). As in Hamlet the casting is 'gender-blind' with some very interesting and amusing results. In particular, though a number of male Rosalinds have been seen since Adrian Lester's beguiling performance in the 1990s, it is unusual to have a female Orlando. In fact, Jack Laskey himself took the part in the Globe's 2009 production opposite Naomi Frederick's Rosalind.

Hamlet

by William Shakespeare

seen at Shakespeare's Globe on 15 May 2018

Another Hamlet - could this be possible after two visits to the excellent Almeida production last year? Fortunately the play is almost inexhaustible, and even though this is the third production I have seen performed at Shakespeare's Globe, I agreed to the suggestion of some friends visiting from Australia who wanted to see it and to experience this special theatre.

Federay Holmes and Elle While are directing a company performing both Hamlet and As You Like It concurrently, aware that they are two plays newly written for the original Globe within a year of each other. There is considerable 'gender-blind' casting, in this case with Hamlet, Horatio and Laertes played by women - Michelle Terry, Catrin Aaron and Bettrys Jones respectively - and (perhaps more unusually) Ophelia played by a man - Shubham Saraf, who also takes the small part of Osric. Claudius (James Garnon), Gertrude (Helen Schlesinger), Polonius (Richard Katz) and other parts are more predictably cast, though interestingly Guildenstern (Nadia Nadarajah) signs in BSL while Rosencrantz (Pearce Quigley) takes on all the speaking lines of the pair, signing to his friend to clear up the no doubt fumbling attempts of the Danish courtiers to sign for themselves.

Boudica

by Tristan Bernays

seen at Shakespeare's Globe on 12 September 2017

Eleanor Rhode directs Gina McKee as Boudica queen of the Iceni (a tribe in what is now East Anglia) in this new play with Joan Iyiola and Natalie Simpson as her daughters Alonna and Blodwynn, Forbes Masson as Cunobeline and Abraham Popoola as Bladvoc, kings respectively of the neighbouring tribes of the Trinovantes and the Belgae.

The sources for Boudica's story are fragmentary, and the earliest are of course in Latin and based on a Roman point of view hardy sympathetic to a rebellious queen who for a short time posed a threat to the province of Britannia - although of course after her demise she could be safely used as a rhetorical device to point up contrasts between barbarian integrity and the corruption of the imperial court.

Romeo and Juliet

by William Shakespeare

seen at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on 7 July  2017

Daniel Kramer directs Edward Hogg as Romeo and Kirsty Bushell as Juliet in this controversial production designed by Soutra Gilmour, set in an indeterminately modern environment - guns and loud music, but not much sign of other technology - with everyone in extreme white clown make-up except for Paris and Friar Lawrence who have gold faces.

The critics panned the production as incoherent and unnecessarily loud and vulgar. It is certainly surprising to discover Lord Capulet dressed as a (black) alligator and leading a raucous rendition of the Village People's YMCA as he hosts his party. It is more than a bit weird that the major deaths occur by means of pistol shots, but that the wielder of the pistol continues to talk about swords, rapiers, vials of poison, or whatever, and then merely utters the word 'Bang' to indicate that the weapon has been fired. Towards the end of the play, Paris is not dispatched, but Romeo shoots Juliet's parents and his own parents.

On occasion, some scenes are played simultaneously. Most notably the scene in which the Nurse (Blythe Duff, very Scottish) informs the distraught Juliet of Romeo's banishment is superimposed on the scene in which Friar Lawrence (Harish Patel, behaving more like a Hindu mystic than a Catholic friar) advises the distraught Romeo to depart for Mantua. Romeo and Juliet are thus kneeling on the same bed although they are oblivious of one another, being in entirely different spaces.

Tristan & Yseult

by Carl Grose and Anna Maria Murphy

seen at Shakespeare's Globe on 22 June 2017

Emma Rice has adapted and directed the original Kneehigh touring production of Tristan & Yseult for this revival at Shakespeare's Globe, where Dominic Marsh plays Tristan and Hannah Vassallo plays Yseult with support from Mike Shepherd (King Mark), Niall Ashdown (Brangian and Morholt), Kyle Lima (Frocin) and Kirsty Woodward (Whitehands), and various musicians.

It's an eclectic piece, with various songs and ballads of loneliness and difficult love, an occasional use of the opening of Wagner's prelude to establish serious intent, imposing verse speaking from King Mark and a more conversational tone from almost everyone else, modern dress which somehow looks timeless, but sailing ships for transport and only knives and fists for weapons.

Nell Gwynn

by Jennifer Swale

seen at Shakespeare's Globe on 3 May 2017

Christopher Luscombe directs this revival of Jennifer Swale's 2015 play about the career of Nell Gwynn who began life in the seedy streets of Covent Garden and became the mistress of King Charles II. Laura Pitt-Pulford plays Nell and Ben Righton the king, with able support from the company playing courtiers and actors.

The play is not an historical documentary, but is broadly accurate in depicting Nell's career and her undoubted charm, skill as an actress, and personal attachment to the king, far less mercenary or politically ambitious than his more aristocratic mistresses (embodied in Lady Castlemaine). It cleverly makes use of dramatic conventions and the introduction of women on the stage to involve the audience in the spirit of the times; the Globe's groundlings in the pit make the opening scene a dazzling example of the excitement a good performance in this theatre can evoke, even though it was decidedly cold on this afternoon and the number of groundlings was perhaps the smallest I have seen.

The Oresteia

by Aeschylus adapted by Rory Mullarkey

seen at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on 1 October 2015

The second major production of the Oresteia in London this year is directed by Adele Thomas and designed by Hannah Clark, with George Irving as Agamemnon, Katy Stephens as Clytemnestra, Joel MacCormack as Orestes and Rosie Hilal as Electra, and also Naana Agyei-Ampadu as Cassandra, Dennis Herdman as the Herald, Branka Katic as Athena, Trevor Fox as Aegisthus and Petra Massey as Cilissa (Orestes' nurse).

Merely providing a more extensive cast list shows that the style of this version is quite different from that produced at the Almeida Theatre. It is more clearly 'faithful' to the original trilogy by Aeschylus, in that the three parts presented to us are clearly 'Agamemnon',  'Choephori' and 'Eumenides', and the secondary group of characters therefore has more immediate impact. The story of Iphigenia is related by the chorus near the beginning of 'Agamemnon' but not explicitly dramatised, and this certainly redresses the balance of the opening play.

The Heresy of Love

by Helen Enmundson

seen at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on 3 August 2015

This production of the play (originally commissioned by the RSC in 2012) is directed by John Dove and features Naomi Frederick as Sister Juana, Sophia Nomvete as Juanita, Gwyneth Keyworth as Angelica, Gabrielle Lloyd as Mother Marguerita, Anthony Howell as Bishop Santa Cruz, Patrick Driver as Father Antonio and Phil Whitchirch as Archbishop Aguiar y Sejas.

The play concerns Mexico's first (17th century) playwright and poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Hieronymite nun. The convents of Mexico were the refuge of many unmarried women, and some were renowned for the sophistication of some of their nuns. Sor Juana was highly intelligent, amassing a considerable library of theological and philosophical books; she also wrote plays and poems and had the favour of the vice-regal court.

However, the arrival of a new archbishop sent from Madrid threatens the whole system of court patronage and the appreciation and commissioning of secular works from religious houses. The archbishop wishes to root out such dangerous accommodations and compromises with the world, and is especially critical of any woman who presumes to meddle in masculine affairs such as intellectual thought. With a local bishop frustrated in his hopes of preferment, who determines to use any prop that comes to hand to discomfit the archbishop, the scene is set for a critical confrontation of ideas, politics and personal hopes. 

King John (again)

by William Shakespeare

seen at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on 25 June 2015

I decided to see this production again in a stage space after the visually frustrating experience at the Temple Church. Ironically I chose a fabulous seat in the centre of the lower gallery - which happened to create sightline problems of its own in this case, as I was facing one of the main axes of approach where actors often stood in a direct line obscuring anyone in the centre of the stage. However, this was a minor problem compared with the massive pillars of the church.

Antony and Cleopatra

by William Shakespeare

filmed live performance from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre seen on 18 June 2015

This 2014 production was directed by Jonathan Munby and stars Eve Best as Cleopatra, Clive Wood as Mark Antony, Jolyon Coy as Octavius Caesar and Phil Daniels as Enobarbus.

The play criss-crosses the ancient world, from Egypt (Alexandria) to Rome, Sicily and the western shores of Greece (Actium), and dramatises the tumultuous relationship between Cleopatra, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt, and Mark Antony, one of the three Roman leaders whose triumvirate was established after the wars following the death of Julius Caesar. The triumvir Lepidus is the weakest of the three, and so the military and political struggle for dominance in Rome becomes intensified in the personal animosity between Antony and the young Octavius Caesar.

King John

by William Shakespeare

seen at the Temple Church (Middle Temple) on 15 April 2015

Shakespeare's Globe's first production of 'King John' is being performed at various historically relevant locations before coming to the Globe itself in the summer. The Temple Church, located in the Middle Temple which supported John during the baronial crisis of 1215, is particularly evocative as one of the characters in the play (the Earl of Pembroke) is actually buried there.

The production, directed by James Dacre, features Jo Stone-Fewings as King John, Alex Waldmann as the Bastard, Barbara Marten as Queen Eleanor, Tanya Moodie as Constance, Laurence Belcher as Prince Arthur and Mark Meadows as Hubert.  

The audience enters the Round Church - the image of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem - to find monks chanting around the figure of King John lying in state on a catafalque, in imitation of the effigy in Worcester Cathedral (a copy of which is nearby). However the performance takes place in the adjoining nave and chancel, where a series of rostrums has been constructed along the whole length of the central aisle and also along the transepts. The bulk of the lighting is provided by candles at floor level along the rostra and in various higher clusters, with some discreet spotlights which are at first hardly noticeable as the spring twilight streams through the windows. The general effect - chanting, lighting and quantities of incense - is dramatic and exciting.