Shakespeare
The anti-genius of William McGonagall, history’s worst poet
‘Not marble nor the gilded monuments of princes,’ wrote Shakespeare, ‘shall outlive this powerful rhyme.’ To be a great poet,…
Shakespeare as cruise-ship entertainment: Jamie Lloyd’s Much Ado About Nothing reviewed
Nicholas Hytner’s Richard II is a high-calibre version of a fascinating story. A king reluctantly yields his crown to a…
Cheerless and fussy: The Tempest, at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, reviewed
The Tempest is Shakespeare’s farewell, his final masterpiece or, if you’re being cynical, the play that made him jack it…
Thomas Kyd may have delighted Elizabethan audiences, but he still wasn’t a patch on Shakespeare
Brian Vickers aims to ‘restore’ Kyd to greatness – but claiming too much on too little evidence does the playwright no favours
Why 4,000 pages of T.S. Eliot’s literary criticism is not enough
Faber’s text-only, strictly chronological four-volume edition of the prose is fatally purist – though admittedly cheaper than the eight-volume Johns Hopkins version
Fortitude, emotional intelligence and wit – the defining qualities of Simon Russell Beale
The Shakespearean actor has taken on 18 of the great roles since his first gig at the RSC in 1985 and recalls them with insight, sensitivity and a sharp passion for language
Faultless visuals – shame about the play: the National’s Coriolanus reviewed
Weird play, Coriolanus. It’s like a playground fight that spills out into the street and has to be resolved by…
Life’s little graces: Small Rain, by Garth Greenwell, reviewed
An unnamed narrator, confined to hospital with a torn aorta, reminisces about his past life in Bulgaria, his love of poetry and the happy domesticity he shared with his partner
Love it or loathe it – the umami flavour of anchovy
The anchovy is everywhere now, lacing salads, pizzas and appetizers. But in the past it was often denigrated in the West as bitter, putrid and ‘a worthless little fish’
Shapeless and facile: The Hot Wing King, at the Dorfman Theatre, reviewed
Our subsidised theatres often import shows from the US without asking whether our theatrical tastes align with America’s. The latest…
The roots of anti-Semitism in Europe
The original blood libel, which materialised after the First Crusade in the 11th century, proved a turning point for Jews, as a wave of religious frenzy swept communities away
Who is allowed to play Richard III?
On Tuesday night I was body double/understudy for the brave, brainy, beautiful Rachel Riley, at a packed ‘support Israel’ evening.…
Eddie Izzard’s one-man Hamlet deserves top marks
Every Hamlet is a failure. It always feels that way because playgoers tend to compare what they’re seeing with a…
The lion and the unicorn were fighting for the crown
Elizabeth I’s refusal to name an heir resulted in many claimants to the English throne in 1603 – with the son of the Queen of Scots finally prevailing
Amazingly sloppy: Romeo & Juliet, at Duke of York’s Theatre, reviewed
Romeo & Juliet is Shakespeare with power cuts. The lighting in Jamie Lloyd’s cheerless production keeps shutting down, perhaps deliberately.…
Player Kings proves that Shakespeare can be funny
Play-goers, beware. Director Robert Icke is back in town, and that means a turgid four-hour revival of a heavyweight classic…
My letter from Chris Packham
I do not know Chris Packham, the BBC nature broadcaster, personally, but he wrote me a letter last month, enclosing…
If only Caryl Churchill’s plays were as thrillingly macabre as her debut
The first play by the pioneering feminist Caryl Churchill has been revived at the Jermyn Street Theatre. Owners, originally staged…
Has VR finally come of age?
VR ‘immersion’ is everywhere in London this autumn, but is it of any value? Stuart Jeffries takes the plunge
Hamlet fans will love this: Re-Member Me, at Hampstead Theatre, reviewed
A puzzle at Hampstead Theatre. Literally, a brain teaser. Its new production, Re-member Me, is a one-man show written and…
The ups and downs of driving a Tesla
I began the week in Miami, looking forward to what a friend of mine describes as ‘the finest sight in…
Why Merseyside is the natural home for a Shakespearean theatre
A neglected little town in Merseyside is the natural home for Shakespeare North, says Robert Gore-Langton
