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Articles
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Articles |
What's On: Shakespeare and MusicalsSo what are the shows we can look forward to this year? Top of my list of new shows is Steven Berkoff's new Messiah. If you like your Fringe shows to be controversial, there's no one better at it than Berkoff! But let's look at the more classic pieces that will be available, starting with Shakespeare. Shakespeare and Bard-related Shows The Tempest seems to be the Shakespeare of the year and there are five versions on offer. There are two each of Dream (one of them a version for children), Romeo and Juliet (always popular) and Macbeth. One of the Macbeth productions is a revival of Frantic Redhead's very popular (and very good) promenade production, which takes the audience round the wynds and closes of the Old Town. There are also productions of Hamlet, Richard III and Twelfth Night, as well as a modernised version of Measure for Measure, a thirty-minute Pericles and a dramatisation of Venus and Adonis. There are also two Shakespeare-derived works: Goodbye Desdemona and Macbeth - Moment. The English Shakespeare Company are back after two years of shocking audiences with their radical reworkings of Richard III and Titus Andronicus. This year they're not telling us what they're doing: they merely invite us to Bus with the Bard - a magical mystery Shakespeare tour, perhaps? Knowing Malachi Bogdanov, it's bound to be a bit different! There's the ever-popular Shakespeare for Breakfast, something which I've never been to, simply because it's a bit early in the morning for me. Perhaps this might be the year... We also have the Revised Shakespeare Company (am I being overly suspicious in suggesting bandwagon-jumping here?), Shakespeare Translated: The Bard's 60 Minutes of Fame, a collage of Shakespeare scenes seen through the eyes of international directors, and An Act of Will, a biographical piece. Finally, for those who want to do a bit of acting themselves, there's the Fleming Premier Banking Shakespeare Workshop, a 90 minute participatory event. Oh yes, and we mustn't forget Machomer - the Simpsons do Macbeth, a one-man comdey show. The mind boggles! It should be fun, though. Musicals As ever Sondheim is the most popular: there are two productions of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and one each of Company, Into the Woods (which appears at every Fringe!), Merrily We Roll Along and Sweeney Todd. Another regular is Godspell which, unusually, only appears once this year. Other musicals to be produced are: Anything Goes, Buggsy Malone, Guys and Dolls, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Pippin, Return to the Forbidden Planet, A Slice of Saturday Night and The Sound of Music. There are three operatic productions: Weber's Abu Hassan, a new production of The Barber of Seville (prior to transfer to the ROH Linbury Studio), and a version of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde for two pianos and six voices. As always there are a number of new musicals, but the one that caught my eye is the UK premiere of Molly Bloom: A Musical Dream, which is based on James Joyce's Ulysses - "a grand piano as Molly's bed and a jazz band to accompany her thoughts. The sexually provocative, criticaly acclaimed musical that the Joyce estate tried to ban! Adults only. Who could resist that? Next page: What's On: Theatre Articles Indices:
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