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7th May - 1st September 2010
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All items tagged "shakespeare"
Features
Taking the Stage
Lenny Henry speaks to LS2 about his role as Othello at the West Yorkshire playhouse; his current uni
He was cruising the comedy circuit before you could walk, perfecting impersonations before you could even pronounce your own name: since his television debut on the New Faces talent show in 1975, Lenny Henry has made himself a television icon and become one of Britain's favourite comedians. Best known for his close associations with Comic Relief and his marriage to comedienne Dawn French (who famously snogged celebrities as dreamy as Hugh Grant and still described Lenny as "the King of Kiss'), it might affect a double-take to see him on the bill for the title role in West Yorkshire Playhouse's upcoming run of Shakespeare's tragedy Othello. Rehearsals start in January for the play which opens on Valentines Day and despite plans to run for an entire month, advance tickets sold out in under two hours; testament to the hype and curiosity surrounding Lenny's new role. Othello is famous as one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies; a story of racism, love, hatred and desire where the title role is usually played by a black actor, although the script of the play itself… Continue reading...
THEATRE REVIEW - Measure for Measure
7 Arts Centre until 20/11
Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure is a play which tackles some major moral dilemas. For example, which would you choose: to let your brother die, or to save his life at the cost of prostituting yourself?
Read morePosted in LS2 » Arts » THEATRE REVIEW - Measure for Measure
THEATRE REVIEW - A Midsummer Night's Deam
Stage@Leeds until 06/02
Tom Large and Francesca Stokes had the unenviable task of producing one of Shakespeare’s most performed plays in a way that is both engaging and fresh. With the immediate rejection of the traditional Athenian visuals and the adoption of a set resembling a scrappy rubbish tip, one would be forgiven for assuming they had stumbled back into their living room rather than arriving at stage@leeds. But if you’ve wondered where that empty Morrisons shopping trolley or conspicuous traffic cone, previously abandoned outside your front door, has disappeared to, then it will come as a significant surprise to discover your drunken steals debuting in this classic comedy.
Read morePosted in LS2 » Arts » THEATRE REVIEW - A Midsummer Night's Deam
INTERVIEW - Jimmy Walters and Edmund Digby-Jones
The director and actor from Henry IV part II speak to LS about their new production
OK, so are you expecting me to have revised Part I?
Definitely not! You don’t have to know Part I or Henry V to understand the play. Although it is part of a wider narrative, and we do open with a very brief section of Part I to contextualise, Part II has interesting qualities and subjects all of its own. The play centres around Prince Hal’s fundamental dilemma: will he continue to enjoy his drunken lowlife in a tavern with Falstaff and his friends, or will he rise to the responsibility of taking over the country from his increasingly sick father and attempt to prevent chaos and disorder? This is what we will be focussing on in our portrayal. The politics is the circumstance, rather than the main subject.
Posted in LS2 » Arts » INTERVIEW - Jimmy Walters and Edmund Digby-Jones
THEATRE REVIEW - Henry IV
Stage@Leeds until 13/02
The set opens to a dark stage, with a small pool of light focused on a single chair. The ground is littered with discarded beer bottles, drunken noises are heard off stage, and on stumbles a young man supporting an older man. The youth is Prince Hal, the wayward heir to his father's throne who has wasted away his teenage years in taverns with his lowlife friends. The older man is the Prince's closest friend and mentor, the witty and shrewd Sir Falstaff. However, as Henry IV's health worsens, and the rebels threaten England's security, Hal realizes he must turn his back on the irresponsible, reckless ways of his youth, distance himself from his former friends, and finally take responsibility for his actions.
Read morePosted in LS2 » Arts » THEATRE REVIEW - Henry IV