JON BALDWIN recommends a provocative assertion of how working-class culture can rethink knowledge
Shakespeare relegated, sadly
GORDON PARSONS squirms at a production that attempts to update Shakespeare’s comedy to a tale of Premier League football
These are vivid accounts of people’s experiences of far-right violence along with documentation of popular resistance, says MARJORIE MAYO
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE, JOHN GREEN and ANGUS REID review An Army of Women, Julie Keeps Quiet, The Friend and The Ugly Stepsister
Above a Gothic bar just down from Brighton station, something spooky is happening, suggests JAMES WALSH
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MIK SABIERS enjoys the theatrical feminist six piece who have a lot of fun that the audience feeds off as the set rolls on
WILL STONE is impressed by Hania Rani who is already making a name for herself in the male-dominated world of modern classical music
Much Ado About Nothing
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
★★
THE problem with resetting Shakespeare’s plays into modern times is so often that the dramatist will get in the way.
Occasionally it can work splendidly, as with Rupert Goold’s recent RSC’s Hamlet, set onboard the Titanic, in which the dramatic tragedy is framed by the natural evolving real-life tragedy. However, Michael Longhurst’s new production of Much Ado About Nothing is a struggle with the Bard all the way.
Admittedly the universality of tragedy is more flexible than the more restricted world of comedy. Longhurst here has, to all intents and purposes, created a “new” play which captures the testosterone-charged energy of the contemporary football world. Our present sporting heroes, however, have their own language, as distinctive and different from Shakespeare’s as is conceivable.
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