ANDY HEDGECOCK is entertained by a playful novel that embeds a fictional game at its heart
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King John, The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Director's cut Shakespeare sacrifices coherence for chaos
Attention seeking: Eleanor Rhode’s production of King John
[Steve Tanner]
Death comes for Liberals, entitled murder, Vatican hit squads, and fraternising with the Blitz killer
New releases from Public Image Ltd, William Basinski, and John Luther Adams
GABRIELE NEHER draws attention to an astoundingly skilled Flemish painter who defied the notion that women cannot paint like men
The Bard pays homage to Hull’s finest promoter and venue, and awards Douze Points to Laibach
KEVIN DONNELLY outlines how the bourgeois institutions inhibit our ability to to view art in revolutionary ways, and suggests some tactics to overturn it
ONE of Shakespeare’s less popular plays, King John has been described as the most satirical of his histories.
And, as the global scene politically increasingly resembles the goings-on in an exceptionally unruly school yard, Eleanor Rhode’s production attempts to capture that particular spirit of the times.
A radio newscast heralds the entry of Rosie Sherry’s tentative, childlike king. He’s like the first-comer to a kids’ party which is to turn into the bear garden disaster parents dread and the political power struggles at the heart of all Shakespeare’s histories is here played out as the ensuing action descends further into chaos.
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