25 Thursday Nov 2021
Posted in Theatre
Tags
dress rehearsal, Noises Off, Opening Night, Philip Henslowe, Shakespeare in Love, stage superstitions, theatre
Us – after dress. Or tech. Or whatever it was.
So the play opens tomorrow night.
We had dress rehearsals, last night – or perhaps not quite… I mean it in that Noises-Offish way, you know: if this is tech, when do we do dress? And if this is dress, when do we do tech?
Yes, well… Continue reading
06 Friday Dec 2019
Posted in Theatre
Tags
A Christmas Carol, Backstage Life, Charles Dickens, dress rehearsal, first night, Shakespeare in Love
The second run of “my” A Christmas Carol” opens tonight – and let me boast a little: we’re sold out all the way to January. There is no way on earth to call it anything else than a huge hit, and I’m inordinately proud.
That said… Continue reading
24 Tuesday May 2016
Tags
@ChaucerDothTweet, BBC News, excavations, James Burbage, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare in Love, The Chamberlain's Men, The Curtain, William Shakespeare
So they are excavating the Curtain, Burbage’s “other” Shoreditch playhouse, where the Chamberlain’s Men played for a couple of years between the Theatre and the Globe. The place was thought to have been Shakespeare’s “Wooden O” in the prologue to Henry V, and there was much rejoicing when in 2012, its remains were found… Continue reading
26 Thursday Mar 2015
Posted in Theatre
I’m just back from London. A quick two-days-and-a-half trip to see Shakespeare in Love at the Noël Coward – again – before it closes.
Second cast… what can I say? They were great, but somewhat less… Continue reading
27 Saturday Sep 2014
Posted in Theatre
Tags
christopher marlowe, Declan Donnellan, Lee Hall, Noël Coward Theatre, Shakespeare in Love, Tom Stoppard
Are you in London? Or reasonably near?
Then do go and see Shakespeare in Love – the stage version – at the Noël Coward Theatre.
I was not reasonably near – I flew from Italy to London and back again within forty-eight hours (while nursing a huge cold) for the sake of this play, and oh, was it ever worth it!
Much as I love the film, the stage version is better. Much better, in fact – with superb musicians onstage (one of them a fabulous countertenor), Declan Donnellan’s smart, lovely direction that makes the most of a set gorgeous in its simplicity, great performances from everyone, and above all an adapted script that centres everything firmly on theatre – and partly does so by expanding Kit Marlowe’s role. Oh, and of course there is the dog…
Can one ask for more?
Have a look at the trailer, read playwright Lee Hall’s thoughts on writing the adaptation, and then go see for yourself.
Scribblings 