Shakespeare
Sher force of character
Understandably given its bulk, Antony Sher’s Falstaff in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s recent production of Shakespeare’s two Henry IV plays…
All things to all men
What did St George do? Killed a dragon, as everyone knows. And yet, as Samantha Riches points out, no mention…
Stage fright
The smash hit Matilda, based on a Roald Dahl story, has spawned a copycat effort, The Twits. Charm, sweetness and…
Wife swap
My impression that Bach has come to rival Shakespeare as a flawless reference point in the cultural life of the…
Existential threat
In the endless game of word association that governs vocabulary, the current favourite as a partner of existential is threat.…
A London Christmas
I have been having my vault done over. Not, as you might think, the family strong room, but the place…
Brave, drunken, violent and law-abiding
Here is a stupendous achievement: a narrative history of England which is both thorough and arresting. Very few writers could…
Girls aloud
The age of ‘ladies first’ is back. Phyllida Lloyd reserves all the roles for the weaker sex, as I imagine…
Dull
At least I’ve got my husband’s Christmas present sorted out: the Dull Men of Great Britain calendar. It is no…
Tarts and Tchaikovsky
What can the Royal Opera House be insinuating about its target audience? No sooner had Anna Nicole closed than Manon…
Worshipping Bach
When I was first learning about classical music, 50 years ago, the scene was more streamlined than it is now.…
Basta
My chickens do not usually come home to roost so rapidly. Only a fortnight ago I wrote that ‘some people use…
Diary
I feel an intense antipathy for Vladimir Putin. No one on the international scene has aroused in me such dislike…
Voice of Britain
Shakespeare defined our united national culture – and now he can help save it
Walk on the wild side
After a walk in Richmond Park beset by rush-hour traffic, the Heathrow flight path and a strange swarm of flying…
Steeling the show
Visitors to Chatsworth House this spring might wonder if they have stumbled through the looking-glass. The estate’s rolling parkland has…
Women’s world
Shakespeare did not give his female characters pivotal roles, but some of his contemporaries did, as Lloyd Evans discovers
The night I fell back in love with Shakespeare
‘Dad, it’s three hours long,’ says Boy, worriedly. ‘Yeah. And whose bloody fault is it we’re going?’ I want to…
Diary
Researching a new book on Shakespeare’s sonnets, I stumbled upon an astonishing piece of hitherto unnoticed evidence in a 16th-century…
Kissing away kingship
Gregory Doran, now in command at Stratford in succession to Sir Michael Boyd, launches his regime with Richard II, intending…
‘Correct names’
In a very rum letter to the Daily Telegraph, the Mother’s Union of all people joined with some other bodies…
