…escaping to new adventures at curtain up…
Tuesday 5th March 2019 at Leeds Playhouse (Pop Up). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A female Hamlet? A northern tragedy? Multiple gender switches? Leeds Playhouse’s latest Shakespeare offering is a finely tuned combination of exactly that. As Shakespeare’s longest play, Hamlet is in so many cases numbingly over-long and mercilessly dark, but thankfully, Amy Leach’s direction and approach to... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 25th September 2018 at Harrogate Theatre. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ As far as modernising Shakespeare goes, this production is pretty top notch. Why? Because it feels fresh and authentic, with modernisation taking shape in costume, set and some subtle behaviours as opposed to being shoe-horned into the script in obtuse ways. Many a production falls into that... Continue Reading →
The King’s Shakespeare Company are heading to the Camden Fringe with a condensed, fast-paced production of one of Shakespeare’s best comedies: The Comedy Of Errors. They’re passionate about bringing a love of the bard to modern audiences and their production plays the Camden Fringe at The Cockpit 17th - 18th August, so I caught up... Continue Reading →
Friday 13th July 2018 in Roundhay Park, Leeds. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Heartbreak Productions frame their take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing as a local village production raising funds for the British Red Cross in 1919. The eager locals bustle and bicker as they prepare for the performance to start, chatting to audience members and playing old... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 10th July 2018 at Harlow Carr Gardens, Harrogate. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Oddsocks Productions’ latest offering is a whacky Sci-Fi take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest and it’s another hit for a company approaching its triumphant 30th year in the business. Set on the ‘uninhabited fictitious planet Babel’, this production sees Will’s sprites and spirits as aliens, Caliban... Continue Reading →
Friday 8th September 2017 at Leeds Carriageworks. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This co-production of Shakespeare's wonderful magical farce from Bite My Thumb and Northern Spark Theatre is a bit of a slow burner which ends on a great high note. In brief, the story follows young lovers Hermia and Lysander who run away into an enchanted forest to... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 11th July 2017 at RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Well, Oddsocks have gone and done it again! Approaching one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, Romeo and Juliet, they decided, naturally, to frame the whole story as a Mods and Rockers themed farce. Does that work? Well, yes actually! In the beautiful outdoor setting of... Continue Reading →
York Theatre Royal. Tuesday 22nd November, 2016. ⭐️⭐️ This production from Volcano Theatre was hugely ambitious and very modern; as the advertising promised, it was 'a furious two hander' and both Mairi Phillips and Alex Harries, playing all roles, were bursting with energy and grit throughout (which must have been gruelling with such a high... Continue Reading →
Harlow Carr, Tuesday 12th July 2016. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ With more energy and chaotic brilliance than bottled childhood, OddSocks' rendition of 'Macbeth' was quirky, refreshing and thoroughly off-the-charts bonkers (in the good way). For me, this is how Shakespeare should be tackled for the modern audience; fresh perspectives, lack of restriction and experimental creativity with central ideas.... Continue Reading →
