From dude to dodo is a trick of vowels and imagination. Maybe, if we’re tired of seeing men dominate our stages, we need to exercise our imaginations, especially when it comes to casting. Unexpectedly, Shakespeare is leading the way. Shakespeare productions swapped gender from the word go, with the all-male Elizabethan companies. Sarah Bernhardt, Angela Winkler and Frances de la Tour have since … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2016
Coming into land
Shouldn’t ballet have previews? Wouldn’t it help dancers and choreographers alike? As with most bad things, the money says no. Ballets have short runs, so you slap ’em on stage and get reviews and publicity whirring at the earliest opportunity. Good for box office and bar takings, but how about the art? A triple bill by a living choreographer is a rarity at the Royal Ballet, usually only … [Read more...]
History boy
There are productions I’ve never seen that are burned onto my brain. As a teenage Shakespeare geek, I devoured books on stage history, describing landmark productions staged long before I was born. I read reviews and memoirs, saw the same few photos. Sally Beauman’s heartfelt history of the RSC was my bedtime reading (still is, sometimes). Last month John Wyver curated a season of films of RSC … [Read more...]