Latest editorial
ANGUS REID urges us to understand the persecution of Jason Arday from a political and historical perspective, and to see the victim in human terms
Theatre Review: The Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon
GORDON PARSONS finds that Shakespeare's difficult early play is a struggle for the audience
Re-releases of the classics Gypsy Rhumba and Buena Vista Social Club, and a stunning album by Palestinian artist Faris Ishaq
Nothing, says ANDY HEDGECOCK, can rescue this undistinguished amalgam of ponderous melodrama and shallow philosophical speculation
JAMIE BRITTON invites readers to visit 3,500 locals as part of a marathon artistic pub crawl
JOHN GREEN welcomes a valuable and incisive analysis of a world become hyperpolitical but without the mass movement institutions to represent it
3/5
It is not all that surprising that Shakespeare’s early play, possibly his first, has not been produced on Stratford’s main stage for 45 years.
This apprentice exercise in romantic comedy poses particular difficulties for any director. The first half of this tale of youthful love and betrayal is full of tortuous word play leaving most of the audience, as one woman commented in the interval, struggling but “getting the gist.”
Similar stories
Family issues and dragon-fuelled history amount to a vacuous spectacle that ill-fits the theatre, muses SIMON PARSONS
At the Edinburgh Fringe, MATTHEW HAWKINS reviews eight shows in a single day in one venue, all of which reward the spectator
GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship