Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Veteran theatre critic Michael Billington, who has been reviewing for the Guardian for more than 40 years, has caused a stir by criticising the current standard of Shakespeare productions in British theatre, in a Q&A with Judi Dench at the reopening of Croydon's Fairfi eld Halls.
Billington remarked that contemporary directors approach the plays ‘as if the audience is going to be bored and they have to fi nd ways to popularise’ them. Judi Dench agreed with him that there was an attitude among those mounting Shakespeare's works that they ‘have to do something different to it’, but representatives of the RSC and Shakespeare's Globe have since refuted the claims, with Gregory Doran telling The Stage ‘There are of course directors who want to use Shakespeare to say something, and interpretation is a very challenging and interesting thing. I employ directors who want to direct Shakespeare, but not like I direct Shakespeare. I want them to do it differently’ and Michelle Terry of Shakespeare's Globe responding that the bard's plays would ‘always struggle under the pressures of literalism and colloquialism and an expectation to be defi nitive and relevant.’
Stanley Wells, a leading Shakespeare scholar, has placed himself with Billington, saying ‘There are still fi ne Shakespeare productions and performances from younger, as well as more seasoned, actors, but there is also a tendency to sacrifi ce artistic to social considerations, which results in a superfi cial modishness rather than a genuine engagement with the Shakespeare text and its values.’
There is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers…with his Tygers heart wrapt in a Players hide…
Fans of BBC comedy Upstart Crow will be excited to learn that the Shakespeare sitcom starring David Mitchell is to open in London's Gielgud Theatre in February 2020 with a brand new script written by Ben Elton for the stage.
In a limited run directed by Sean Foley and also starring Gemma Whelan as Kate, Mitchell's Bard will battle family troubles and writer's block while trying to produce a new play for the Stuart king. It will be the comedian's professional theatre debut, and he has said of it that ‘I'm delighted to have the opportunity to bring history's most famous balding dramatist to the West End via the amazing comic imagination of Ben Elton. Theatre goers can look forward to a comedy steeped in authentic Shakespearean ambience in every way apart from the smell.’
Tickets went on sale on 27 September and the production will run at the Gielgud from 7 February-25 April 2020.
http://www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/tickets/upstart-crow/
Our queen and all her elves come here anon…
The National Youth Theatre is to present a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream as part of their 2019 REP season, which will run at the Criterion Theatre in London from 6 December to 13 January. An admirable improvement on the many panto options which will enjoy a similar run, the production is to be directed by former National Theatre New Works Resident Director Matt Harrison, working in association with Kneehigh, and has been abridged by Kate Kennedy.
Tickets are available by visiting the ‘What's On’ page of the National Youth Theatre's website: http://www.nyt.org.uk/whats-on
I am peppered, I warrant, for this world…
The temporary Shakespeare's Rose Theatres which enjoyed two summer seasons in York and one at Blenheim Palace will not be returning next year as the production company behind them has collapsed. Lunchbox Theatrical Productions cited ‘unsustainable losses’, blaming Brexit and economic uncertainty which had led to low audience fi gures – with the result that the company directors are taking professional advice regarding liquidation.
In 2018, the York pop-up attracted 78,000 visitors, according to a BBC report, but only 47,000 in 2019, while this summer around 38,000 visited the theatre at Blenheim Palace instead of the 75,000 the company expected. Business leaders in York have said that the non-return of the theatre is ‘sad news for the city.’