SUSAN DARLINGTON appreciates a retelling of the Merlin myth that emphasises family and belonging
Partial success of chop and change
Transmorphed into a romp in the Caribbean, the play effortlessly wins over the audience, writes GORDON PARSONS
ZANY: Jack Pardoe as Spanish Don Armado
[Johan Persson] 
JAN WOOLF is beguiled by the tempting notion that Freud psychoanalysed Hitler in a comedy that explores the vulnerability of a damaged individual
TONY BURKE reviews new releases from Cheikh Lo, Mishra & Deepa Shakthi, N’Faly Kouyate
Gin Lane by William Hogarth is a critique of 18th-century London’s growing funeral trade, posits DAN O’BRIEN
ANDY HEDGECOCK sees his scepticism lessened by a story is more complex and far-reaching than is initially apparent
MARK TURNER holds on tight for a mesmerising display of Neath-born ragtime virtuosity
Love’s Labour’s Lost
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Stratford-upon-Avon
“A PERFORMANCE of Love’s Labour’s Lost is a sort of entertainment to be valued rather for Shakespeare’s sake than for its own.” So suggested George Bernard Shaw — no great fan of the Bard. Director Emily Burns seems to have taken this advice to heart.
One mustn’t be too critical. At the expense of being accused of cultural heresy, I am inclined to believe that it is expecting too much of modern audiences, attuned to digital messaging languages, to engage with what is one of Shakespear’s most complex linguistic plays.
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