World Shakespeare Festival
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre will be participating in the World Shakespeare Festival with this spectacularly ambitious 6-week season, bringing 36 visiting theatre companies from all over the world to perform Shakespeare … Continue reading
Wilkie Collins goes to Venice
The Haunted Hotel, by Wilkie Collins, is a bit of a Gothic horror story – not really a novel, but rather an extended short story. It has all the typical … Continue reading
Kenneth Branagh: boy wonder
If you missed the dawn of Kenneth Branagh’s illustrious career, the BBC is currently offering a rare opportunity to see a piece of his early work. The trilogy of ‘Billy’ … Continue reading
A film of a play of a film…
Now, let me declare my prejudice: I prefer the stage to the screen and I had my doubts about watching a play being shown in a cinema environment. But it’s … Continue reading
Don’t Look Now: McEwan’s in Venice
February is the month for Carnival in Venice,so the idea of reading some books set in the city was appealing. During 2011 I finished off the last of Donna Leon’s … Continue reading
Love: that breath-taking miracle
It’s forty years since I studied Romeo and Juliet at school and since then I have seen quite a few productions of it. It’s a play that particularly lends itself … Continue reading
The Reykjavik Murder Mysteries by Arnaldur Indridason
Arnaldur Indridason, the son of a novelist, was born in 1961 and, after studying history at Reykjavik University, took up journalism and film criticsm as a career. He published his … Continue reading
Kemp’s Jig
Will Kemp worked alongside Will Shakespeare as a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men during the 1590s and he was known to be one of the comic masters of … Continue reading
Can I forgive her? No, not really
Review: Anthony Trollope, Can You Forgive Her? I’ve spent over a week labouring through this Victorian tome and I have to admit that the first four hundred pages were a … Continue reading
Fine weather for a walk
Yesterday, the thrushes were singing their hearts out and there was almost a hint of spring in the air, but surely it’s too soon to hope for that. I am … Continue reading
