by Annette Rubery | Nov 25, 2023 | Shakespeare
King Lear, Wyndham's Theatre, London, 2023. I was excited to finally see Kenneth Branagh in King Lear at Wyndham’s Theatre last night, having booked months ago. I last saw him live in a Shakespeare play (Hamlet) in 1992, so was nostalgic about his return to the...
by Annette Rubery | Nov 8, 2023 | Shakespeare
An edition of the First Folio (London, 1623) seen at New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, April 23rd 2023. Today marks the culmination of the 400th birthday celebrations of the First Folio: one of the most influential books ever to have been published. We travelled to...
by Annette Rubery | Oct 27, 2023 | Literature, Shakespeare, Theatre History
Shylock and Portia by Thomas Sully (1835), from Act IV, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice. Wikimedia Commons. Following some interesting conversations on Twitter, I thought I should try to put some thoughts down about The Merchant of Venice. I studied the play as a...
by Annette Rubery | Oct 15, 2023 | Shakespeare
Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Wils Wilson (2023). On Friday we saw Macbeth at the RSC (the Wils Wilson production with a completely Scottish cast). I liked some things about it and disliked others: it was a mixed bag, but an enjoyable evening...
by Annette Rubery | Sep 11, 2023 | Literature, Shakespeare
Macbeth and Banquo encountering the witches, Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Ireland. 1577. What a joy to re-read this masterpiece. It’s more tightly plotted than many of Shakespeare’s other plays, and there’s so much fantastic imagery to...
by Annette Rubery | Jul 23, 2023 | Literature, Shakespeare
Symposium scene: banqueters playing the kottabos game while a girl plays the aulos. Attic red-figure bell-krater. © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons. I’ve got plans to re-read King Lear this year, and – as a kind of run-up – I decided to read Timon of Athens,...
