Director David Muse’s Richard the Third is clearly rendered, scored to propulsive industrial rock and sets itself apart from previous productions by a series of grisly execution scenes, but, for all of that, I was left curiously unmoved. Shakespeare’s tragic version of Richard, the Duke of Gloucester (1452-1485), his mad, ruthless rise to power atop the […]
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2019/2020 season – Simon Godwin’s announces: new ‘classics’, new children’s musical and 2019’s Free For All
William Shakespeare will get two of the six slots in Simon Godwin’s debut season at Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), along with four playwrights never before seen on STC’s stages: James Baldwin, Emma Rice, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Lauren Gunderson. STC began their announcement, the first such season announcement from any area production company, by sharing the […]
Review: David Ives’ The Panties, the Partner and the Profit disappoints
The streak is broken. Playwright David Ives’ winning series of brilliant, hilarious “transladaptations” performed at the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) over the last decade ground to a creaking, impotent halt with his latest, The Panties, the Partner and the Profit: Scenes from the Heroic Life of the Middle Class. In retrospect, the labored, pretentious title […]
Review: An Inspector Calls. Magnificent production
I once saw Edward Albee speak on a panel with Robert Wilson. Albee described his disappointment when he re-watched the Werner Herzog film Aguirre, Wrath of God. There was a particular sequence, he told us, that was not as beautiful as it was in his memory from the earlier viewing. Nearly thirty years ago, J.B. […]
The technical wizardry behind a rising house and other tricks of the set of An Inspector Calls
It’s been more than 25 years since Stephen Daldry’s production of J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls made its London debut. Thanks to Ian MacNeil’s astonishing set that paints a vivid picture of London in 1912, post-war society and modern day, the play continues to wow audiences around the world. An Inspector Calls opens tonight at Shakespeare Theatre’s Sidney Harman […]
Review: The Comedy of Errors, plenty of hijinks with a splash of Broadway
Was Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors lacking for want of a Broadway-style splashy opening number? Probably not, but director Alan Paul has tinkered with the comedy by adding a handful of contemporary musical numbers to the mix. The songs break up the frenetic, nonsensical nature of the play, which like more than one of the […]
Another white man? Shakespeare Theatre’s staff speaks honestly about new artistic leader, Simon Godwin
Recently, Shakespeare Theatre Company announced the results of their exhaustive search for for an artistic director to replace Michael Kahn: the young British director Simon Godwin. Naturally, the theatre community burst into conversation. One of the things that struck me was the sheer number of artists and theatre professionals who were rolling their eyes and […]
Michael Kahn’s successor named: London visionary director Simon Godwin
The Shakespeare Theatre Company has ended its nearly year-long hunt for Artistic Director Michael Kahn’s successor with the appointment of London’s National Theatre Associate Director Simon Godwin, the company announced yesterday.
Review: Shakespeare Theatre’s Romeo & Juliet boldly conceived, superbly performed
“These violent delights have violent ends / And in their triumph die, like fire and powder / Which, as they kiss, consume.” Friar Lawrence’s words ring pulse-quickeningly true in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s vibrant Romeo & Juliet, its sixth iteration of this timeless tale. Directed by Alan Paul, the company’s associate artistic director, the production also […]
DC’s beloved Floyd King, now in the cast of Camelot, talks about an actor’s life
“I mean, actors — it’s hard for us to judge whether we’re good in something or not, because we’re probably not a good judge of it. We go by how it feels.
Review: Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Camelot crosses over to the dark side
The mythical city of Camelot has always been little more than a dream – a forest kingdom of unsurpassed beauty where magicians and enchantresses gleefully meddle in human affairs, knights battle dragons and other fantastical beasts, and maidens swoon accordingly. And ruling over it all, King Arthur and his loyal knights of the round table, […]
Druid actors: Beckett was having a bit of fun with Waiting for Godot.
Based in Galway, Irish theatre company Druid is known for its epic productions of large-scale works such as DruidSynge, all six John Millington Synge plays performed in a single day, DruidMurphy, a similar showing of the work of Tom Murphy, and DruidShakespeare, a presentation of Richard II, Henry IV (Part One), Henry IV (Part Two) […]