by Annette Rubery | Mar 24, 2024 | Shakespeare
Macbeth, Dir. Simon Godwin, London 2024. Just back from London and the blasted heath of Canada Water to see Simon Godwin’s production of Macbeth. It took place in a gigantic warehouse, where audiences filed past a burnt-out car in an imaginary war-torn city, and the...
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 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 | 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,...