Shakespeare plays in London

The RSC’s theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon has a similar magic to Shakespeare’s Globe…

Theoretically, flipping the genders in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ sounds like a solid way of dealing with the main problem with Shakespeare’s play…

‘Measure for Measure’ is one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’. But this description eclipses a much bigger question…

Sean Holmes and Ilinca Radulian direct what one can only assume to be a heavily edited take on Shakespeare’s three-part ‘Henry VI’, which follows the callow king’s disastrous reign, as his father’s conquests are lost to scheming and intrigue. 

As the Globe Ensemble methodically makes its way through Shakespeare’s history plays, it hits upon one of the Bard's greatest hits in the form of ‘Richard III’, last seen here a few years back with Mark Rylance as a disconcertingly childlike take on the murderous monarch…

Problematic as it may be, ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ is a Shakespeare’s Globe staple, which last appeared here as a touring production in 2018, and in a stunning, Ireland-set version as part of Emma Rice’s first season in 2016.  For this 2020 incarnation, Globe boss Michelle Terry will once again join forces with her actor husband Paul Ready (‘Motherland’, ‘Bodyguard’)…

Although Shakespeare’s masterpiece is always around in some form of other, there hasn’t really been a big London ‘Hamlet’ since 2017 and Andrew Scott. Here we finally go, though: Cush Jumbo follows in the footsteps of her ‘The Good Fight’ co-star Michael Sheen to star as the Bard’s doomed Danish prince at the Young Vic…

Director Kimberley Sykes has made some waves at the RSC in the last couple of years, and now she helms up the Open Air Theatre’s (almost) annual Shakespeare play in the shape of his timeless romantic tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet’. 

Rising stars Josh O'Connor and Jessie Buckley play the star crossed lovers in the NT's summer Shakespeare blockbuster.  Exact dates are TBA, and will go on sale in 2020.