Dr Peter Kirwan

Tag: Cymbeline

  • The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] (Again) (American Shakespeare Center) @ The Blackfriars Playhouse

    The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] (Again) (American Shakespeare Center) @ The Blackfriars Playhouse

    Every now and again, I’ve been lucky to see a revival of an existing play that makes that play feel freshly written, as if designed for that company and that moment. The reworking of Death of a Salesman for an African American family; Theatre Wallay’s reworking of The Taming of the Shrew as a commentary…

  • Cymbeline (RSC) @ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre

    Cymbeline (RSC) @ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre

    A couple of months ago, before the UK jumped the proverbial shark in the EU referendum, a line from Cymbeline was doing the rounds on social media as Brexiteers leapt on Shakespeare’s comment that Britain isA world by itself; and we will nothing payFor wearing our own noses. Deploying the time-honoured logic of ‘If Shakespeare said it,…

  • Cymbeline (Shakespeare’s Globe) @ The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

    Cymbeline (Shakespeare’s Globe) @ The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

    Will Tosh’s essay in the programme for Cymbeline considers how that play – and others of this era of the King’s Men – were written to exploit the available technologies of the recently acquired Blackfriars Playhouse. It seems fitting, to that end, that Sam Yates’s production of Cymbeline itself makes flexible use of what is possible in this modern theatre. Where…

  • Cymbeline (Cheek by Jowl) @ The Barbican Theatre

    I love Cheek By Jowl. I’ve seen several of their productions, both English and Russian, over the last few years, and they are the company who have most consistently impressed me with their intelligent approach to classical texts, their innovative ideas and groundbreaking use of space and movement, directed by Declan Donnellan. In addition, they’re…

  • Cymbeline (Kneehigh) @ The Swan Theatre

    Cymbeline (Kneehigh) @ The Swan Theatre

    Without beating around the bush, this production was simply breathtaking, one of the most complete pieces of theatre I’ve seen in a long time, and the perfect antidote to the sober and dull ‘Measure For Measure’ of last week. I’ve seen a lot of Kneehigh Theatre’s work in the past, but this was without the…