A Menagerie of Mischief in this high-energy new production Directed by Chelsea Walker, last night’s Much Ado About Nothing sets the Bard’s timeless work in a contemporary world. Remarkably, despite being more than four centuries old, the play’s concerns with status, reputation and public performance feel entirely contemporary. Status, desire and romance are seasoned with […]
The Tempest – Sam Wanamaker Theatre, The Globe
Do you have favourite theatres in London? Sam Wanamaker is one of mine. It’s a tiny indoor theatre next door to the better-known Globe Theatre. Perfect, perhaps, for The Tempest, one of Shakespeare’s best-loved plays and one that conjures up a magical world. It is lit entirely by candlelight; the Jacobean-style playhouse is warm and […]
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
A violent take on a timeless comedy The smell of mulled wine sticks in the nostrils at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse ahead of The Globe’s latest staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – but the production itself is no warming affair. Shakespeare’s beloved comedy takes on the eternal themes: love, jealousy, and unreality. The action […]
Winter Season 2025/26 at Shakespeare’s Globe:
Dreams in the Dark It begins, as so many of Shakespeare’s stories do, in the dark. The Thames breathes mist across Bankside, while inside the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, hundreds of candles are kindled into life. The winter of 2025–26 at Shakespeare’s Globe glimmers with transformation, imagination, and love in all its strange forms. The Sam […]
Twelfth Night or What You Will – Shakespeare’s Globe
This Carnival Twelfth Night is Frothy Fun On the south bank of the Thames, Shakespeare’s Globe offers a living reminder of how theatre once thrived in London. The reconstructed playhouse, a short walk from the site of Shakespeare’s original theatre, channels the noisy, communal atmosphere of the 16th century. Groundlings stand under the open sky, […]
The Merry Wives of Windsor – Shakespeare’s Globe
All is not so merry in this brand-new take on one of Shakespeare’s beloved comedies. The Merry Wives of Windsor has long been considered a frothy comedy of limited proportions, but this new production adds a layer of depth and sincerity to what is otherwise a pure romp of a play. As associate artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe, Sean Holmes is no stranger to the Bard’s comedies, and this production showcases a director indisputably working in their element – even if everything is covered in a luminous green paisley print.
The Crucible at Shakespeare’s Globe
Brilliant direction from Director Ola Ince, together with a convincing New England staging from Amelia Jane Hankin, makes this production of The Crucible compelling. And, at a time of political turbulence when freedom of speech once again seems not to be a given, it’s a work which has a particular resonance.
Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare’s Globe
Romeo and Juliet at the Globe this summer is an enjoyable night out and a reminder, if ever it was needed, of Shakespeare’s unsurpassed storytelling skill and the privilege, in being a Londoner, of having such immediate access to his work
Three Sisters, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse Shakespeare’s Globe
Chekhov sets the Globe alight A new production of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters somehow shoehorns a whole world onto one small candlelit stage. This is the first time a Chekhov play has been performed at Shakespeare’s Globe and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse might just be the perfect fit for this intense journey back to provincial […]
Shakespeare’s Cymbeline at the Candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
If ‘Shakespeare’s Plays’ was a topic on ‘Pointless’, Cymbeline might just be a winning answer. This production, at the 340-seat Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, was enough to convince me that’s an ill-deserved state of affairs – it’s a play that deserves to be better known.