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 | 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 | 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,...
by Annette Rubery | Jul 6, 2023 | Literature, Shakespeare
If there’s one idea, for me, that’s central to As You Like It, it’s freedom. I think of this play – first performed in 1599 – as Shakespeare’s most verdant (even more so than The Winter’s Tale). Having studied it 30 years ago, I thought I knew it, but a re-read...
