STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old
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King John, The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Director's cut Shakespeare sacrifices coherence for chaos
Attention seeking: Eleanor Rhode’s production of King John
[Steve Tanner]
TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically
JAN WOOLF examines work that aims to give viewers a material experience of the environments in the polar north and Britain equally affected by the climate crisis
The bard recalls advice received 50 years ago from his TRB muse, and sorts out appropriate legislation for football club ownership
MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review Facing War, Kontinental ’25, Bugonia, and Relay
MAYER WAKEFIELD is frustrated by a production of Ibsen’s classic study of an anti-heroine that fails to elucidate her motivations
PETER MASON tunes his ear into the domestic affairs of a Carribbean couple with a troublesome son
ONE of Shakespeare’s less popular plays, King John has been described as the most satirical of his histories.
And, as the global scene politically increasingly resembles the goings-on in an exceptionally unruly school yard, Eleanor Rhode’s production attempts to capture that particular spirit of the times.
A radio newscast heralds the entry of Rosie Sherry’s tentative, childlike king. He’s like the first-comer to a kids’ party which is to turn into the bear garden disaster parents dread and the political power struggles at the heart of all Shakespeare’s histories is here played out as the ensuing action descends further into chaos.
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