EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
Othello
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
WHEN Peter Hall and John Barton launched the RSC in 1960, they were determined to establish not only a permanent company but one with its own style of acting or Method, based on “the word first and the Method second.” This approach produced some of the greatest theatrical productions of the century.
Sadly time and financial strictures have long since replaced the company’s work with a great variety of Shakespeare productions from visiting directors, with some remarkable results but many failing through aiming for eye-catching novelty.
Family issues and dragon-fuelled history amount to a vacuous spectacle that ill-fits the theatre, muses SIMON PARSONS
GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue
GORDON PARSONS salutes the apt return of Brecht’s vaudevillian cartoon drama that retains the vitality of the boxing or the circus ring
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship



