Tag: RSC

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sprinkled With High-Tech Fairy Dust

Published in The New York Times March 12, 2021

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” may be one of Shakespeare’s most performed plays — but its latest version from the Royal Shakespeare Company will be unlike any seen before. Titled “Dream,” the 50-minute streamed production fuses live performance with motion-capture technology, 3-D graphics, and interactive gaming techniques that let the audience remotely guide Puck through a virtual forest.

Continue reading “A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sprinkled With High-Tech Fairy Dust”

How Britain is facing up to its hidden slavery history

Published in BBC Culture February 3, 2020

If we hear at all about Britain’s involvement in slavery, there’s often a slight whiff of self-congratulation – for abolishing it in 1833, 32 years ahead of the US, where the legacy of slavery is still more of an open wound. Less well known, however, is the enormous cost of this decision for the taxpayer – the British government spent £20 million, a staggering 40% of its budget in 1833, to buy freedom for slaves.

Continue reading “How Britain is facing up to its hidden slavery history”

Chipo Chung: I had to go round the houses to get into theatre

Published in The Stage on September 14, 2017

When Chipo Chung last saw Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage, she didn’t understand it. Now, she’s about to play the queen herself at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Perhaps surprisingly, it’s the first time the company has staged the tragedy. Continue reading “Chipo Chung: I had to go round the houses to get into theatre”

Blanche McIntyre: ‘Staging violence against women responsibly keeps me up at night’

Published in The Stage on June 30, 2017

Titus Andronicus has got a reputation. It’s Shakespeare’s schlock horror moment, a gore fest that for centuries was considered too crass to be staged, and now prompts gleeful headlines about how many audience members have fainted at its dismemberments. Continue reading “Blanche McIntyre: ‘Staging violence against women responsibly keeps me up at night’”

‘It’s about exploring the male and female that everyone has inside them’: on playing Salomé as a man

Published in The i on May 12, 2017

Salomé: one of the most dangerously seductive female figures ever, often considered the original femme fatale. Yet in a new production of Oscar Wilde’s 1891 play at the RSC, Salomé is to be played by a man. Continue reading “‘It’s about exploring the male and female that everyone has inside them’: on playing Salomé as a man”

Othello: ‘Freshly minted’ RSC production is the latest casting twist for the play

Published in The Independent on June 15, 2015

An intriguing bit of casting might just make Iqbal Khan’s new production of Othello at Stratford-upon-Avon feel – in the words of RSC artistic director Gregory Doran – “freshly minted”: not only is Othello being played by a black actor, Hugh Quarshie – but so is his tormentor, Iago. It is Lucian Msamati uttering lines such as “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe”. Continue reading “Othello: ‘Freshly minted’ RSC production is the latest casting twist for the play”

The Malt House: A picture-perfect country escape

Published in The Independent on Sunday on January 18, 2015

Tucked in the heart of the Cotswolds, the Malt House matches its picture-book surroundings. Built in the classic buttery yellow stone of the region, with three acres of gardens and orchard behind it, the long, lean Grade II-listed building dates back in parts to the 17th century, with more added in 1905.

The Malt House has long been hosting guests, but since last year, when new owner June Denton took it on, a complete overhaul has turned it into something special. While keeping an English country olde-worlde air – think exposed wooden beams, stone window seats, and vintage furniture – the restoration has happily brought the plumbing and heating into the 21st century, as well as sprinkling little modern luxuries throughout. Continue reading “The Malt House: A picture-perfect country escape”