Can a war movie be too beautiful? Thoughts on “Birdsong” and “Coriolanus”

My weekend (artistically at least) was dominated by stories of war. It began with the new Coriolanus movie on Friday, directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes. Coriolanus is one of the great, sprawling tragedies of Shakespeare’s later career. One could almost call it cinematic. There are a lot of short, punchy scenes that flow into [...]

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If you can’t say something nice…

One of my earliest movie memories is of Thumper the rabbit in Disney’s Bambi tapping his foot laconically and saying, “If you can’t say sumfin’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.” I read a lot of criticism and meta-textual analysis. I have two English degrees, one pre- and one post-theory, and occasionally feel I’ve seen [...]

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Measure For Measure, RSC Swan Theatre, Stratford

Charles Spencer from the Telegraph must really have it in for the RSC this winter season. He condemns their David Edgar play about the King James Bible, Written on the Heart, as “wordy and hard work,” and takes an almost visceral dislike Roxana Silbert’s production of Measure for Measure, Shakespeare’s problem comedy of sex and [...]

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“Your time on earth is limited. Don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

I spent much of yesterday at one of my favourite places – the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon. I’m hoping to help them out as a voluntary writer from time to time as they develop their digital platforms for children. Meanwhile, they’ve asked me for a few activities they can hand out in school holidays [...]

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The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Presentist Shakespeare

    Two very different quotations I came across today get right to the heart of the debate about Shakespeare adaptation: In the red corner we have Brad Bevitt, who can’t see the point of dressing Shakespeare up in modern clothes and retaining all the original verse. He’s specifically discussing the new Coriolanus adapted by [...]

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Conference Report

So…the Cambridge Shakespeare Sources and Adaptation conference. Still sorting my thoughts out on it, to be honest. I still can’t quite believe I found the courage to go – alone, just a lowly MA student who has yet to officially graduate. I can’t quite believe that I sat in the same room as Stanley Wells [...]

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RSC: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The last work of art I watched on the topic of dreams was Inception, so compared to that Midsummer Night’s Dream should be a breeze. A slightly trippy one, admittedly, with strobe lighting, flying couches and multicoloured chairs suspended in mid-air. The programme helpfully pointed out that the process of dreaming often leads to the [...]

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Garden at New Place

Garden at New Place, a photo by mefinx on Flickr.

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Stratford-upon-Avon, one last time

I’ve never seen Stratford-upon-Avon look more beautiful than it did in the autumn light of the first morning of September yesterday. I’ve just had a brief and in some ways emotional stay there. The main purpose was to hand in my dissertation, which I duly did yesterday morning. There were quite a few people there [...]

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Much Ado Review

Oh damn you, David Tennant. Just when I was growing old gracefully and getting over you, I had to go and see Much Ado and fall in love with you all over again!

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