Tag: Theatre
-
The BBC TV Shakespeare (1978 – 1985)
The BBC’s failed attempt to create the definitive set of the complete works of Shakespeare adapted for TV demonstrates just how hard to pin down the bugger can be. From his rediscovery at the end of the eighteenth century through to the middle of the 20th the received wisdom was that the Bard was the…
-
Interview with Richard Mansfield of Mansfield Dark
As a companion post to my review of Mansfield Dark’s Count Magnus and The Story of A Disappearance and an Appearance, Richard Mansfield very kindly agreed to answer some questions about the movies: Why make M. R. James ghost stories as shadow puppet films? I think the medium lends itself perfectly for ghost stories. I’ve…
-
Count Magnus and A Disappearance and an Appearance – Mansfield Dark
Until now I’ve always been left a bit disappointed by film and TV adaptations of M.R. James’ stories. Even acknowledged classics like Jonathan Miller’s 1968 version of Oh, Whistle, And I’ll Come To You My Lad, starring Michael Horden lack the full sense of claustrophobic menace that characterises the original story. Partly it’s because the…
-
Kate Bush: Before the Dawn.
Spoiler and bad language alert: If you are planning on seeing the concert and you don’t want any of it revealed then read no further. Also Kate Bush swears like a trooper. I planned on writing this straight after seeing the concert but it’s taken me about five days for my thoughts to marshal themselves…
-
Jude Law’s Henry V
Yesterday I went to see Jude Law in Henry V at the Noël Coward Theatre in London. We were right up in the gods, sitting on what was to all intents and purposes a shelf glued to the wall among the lights. This was a bit nerve wracking after the collapse of the Apollo Theatre…
-
Shakespeare Beyond Doubt
I’ve just finished reading the collection of essays Shakespeare Beyond Doubt, edited by Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells. The book is designed to counter the increasing number of what it politely refers to as ‘anti-Stratfordians’ – those who believe that Shakespeare wasn’t the author of the plays attributed to him. A couple of years ago…
-
Mary Shelley – Shared Experience
I’ve just been to see the play Mary Shelley by Helen Edmundson, performed by the Shared Experience theatre company at Winchester Royal Theatre. It was fantastic and I recommend anyone to grab tickets while they can and go and watch it. The play deals with Mary Shelley’s relationship with her father, the anarchist philosopher William…