Greg Hicks is at the heart and soul of the current RSC ensemble who are gathered to perform a number of Shakespeare’s classic works at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The ensemble began its work last year and will continue to work together until 2011 – although rumour has it that Hicks will leave early.
I haven’t had chance to post anything on here recently but I promise to keep the journal busy over the next few weeks. What’s been happening?
1. I have a new website. The writing side of my work has become busy enough to encourage me to promote it further and one of my publishers were happy to help me do it as they get more work too if I’m busy. If you’re inclined to take a look, it’s here: www.darrenhirst.com
2. One of the bands that I have been working with have attracted interest from Sony/BMG which has meant some high flown meetings which seem to have gone well.
3. You can read all about my work with Sad Cafe on the new version of their website which I believe is going live today. I’m impressed with the design of this one. It was done by a company called project42 who are very talented and very efficient. You can see the site here: www.sadcafe.co.uk
4. The new issue of Natural Progressions which I edit will go to the printers on Monday. That looks good too.
5. The RSC has a new group of productions. The first is King Lear and a review of this excellent performance should be on this site in a few days time.
6. Some of my favourite artists are doing gigs in the next few weeks and I’ll do reviews which will eventually find their way here. I’ll be writing about Panic Room, Timothy B. Schmit, John Foxx and Swarf.
7. I’ve been involved in negotiations with John Foxx’s manager, Steve Malins, with a view to staging an exhibition of John’s art in Stratford-Upon-Avon. This has been frustrating and may come to nothing.
8. Baseball Spring Training has begun and I’m going to be writing an analysis of the Yankees’ Spring squad which will also eventually find it’s way here.
Busy, busy, busy………..
I normally get to see the RSC’s productions at the beginning of their run and I’m then able to prepare the review early. This one is unusual as, because of my personal workload, I didn’t get to see Twelfth Night until three nights before it finished. I decided to prepare a review anyway – even though it’s likely to influence exactly nothing.
Julius Caesar
The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford
3rd September 2009
Tonight, I watched David Troughton in a repeat of the BBC light drama, New Tricks. Troughton is an actor with a distinguished Shakespearean pedigree and he carried off the TV role with aplomb and class.
The Winters Tale
RSC at the Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon
23rd July 2009
The RSC have put together a new ensemble which will work on a number of productions between now and 2011. If these first fruits are anything to go by, it promises to be a very good run indeed.
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon
As You Like It
23rd of April 2009
In 2007, Neil Bartlett directed a version of “Twelfth Night” for the RSC which held tightly together in the first half of the performance but tended to be more unwieldy after the interval as the drama led us out into countryside celebrations and a hippy-chic interpretation of some of the songs in the second half. It was bright, colourful but a little too flamboyant for its own good. Watching Michael Boyd’s take on “As You Like It” at the Courtyard in Stratford-Upon-Avon, I began to wonder if this production was going to fall into the same problems. Tight and precisely directed in the city action of the first scenes, a little too wild in places as the action transferred to the forest in later scenes.
Thursday Night, 12 March 2009
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
RSC Courtyard Theatre, Stratford
Another night with the RSC and another lesson in handling Shakespeare when the director wants to “discover” a flavour of a modern theme in the midst of the script. Janice Honeyman believes that The Tempest will speak powerfully to the world of European Colonialism and African slavery. I believe that her direction and the text’s natural moral direction are at odds with each other and that her insistence on making this idea central to the production may have swamped the play just as badly as Alonso’s ship is swamped by Prospero’s magic.
Edward Bennett as Hamlet
In Hamlet, the RSC have, by far, their best production of the year. Last night at the Novello Theatre, an enthusiastic audience rose to their feet in standing ovation to reward the actors on the conclusion of an oustanding performance.
On Friday, I was in Stratford-Upon-Avon, once more, for the Royal Shakespeare company’s latest production of Romeo and Juliet. It has been an interesting year for the RSC with receipts up because of David Tennant’s involvement in Hamlet and Love’s Labour’s lost but some mixed reviews and varying quality and conceptualisation of productions.
Love’s Labour’s Lost
RSC
Courtyard Theatre
Stratford-Upon-Avon
30th October 2008
I keep wanting to say that is an ordinary production….. but that isn’t true. In fact, in many ways, the production is extraordinary. The stage design, the colours, the movement are all of a very high standard indeed. I don’t even get to say that David Tennant was either extremely good or extremely bad. His performance as Berowne is run-of-the-mill, no better, no worse, albeit very good in parts.
twilightdawning 