Shakespeare

King appears as surprise guest at sold-out Shakespeare play

The Tempest review – Kenneth Branagh returns to the RSC in this enchanting production

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonProspero is reimagined as a conductor in this superbly orchestrated version of Shakespeare’s tragicomedyKenneth Branagh is said to have played 35 Shakespearean parts, albeit back in the day. Seeing him speaking in verse these days is something of an event, all the more so when he is making a return to the Royal Shakespeare Company after more than 30 years to take on, for the first time, Shakespeare’s magician, deposed duke and tyrant occupier....

Tempest in the stalls as baby disrupts Kenneth Branagh RSC performance

Audience members said baby’s cooing and gurgling ruined Branagh’s return to the RSC after 30 years, with some seeking refundsBoatswain! The opening scene of Shakespeare’s seminal play The Tempest, in which Prospero conjures up a violent storm to shipwreck his treacherous brother, is enough to wake up anyone – let alone a baby. Audience members at a matinee performance of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production, starring Kenneth Branagh as Prospero, complained after a baby gurgled and...

Tempest in the stalls as baby disrupts Kenneth Branagh RSC performance

Audience members said baby’s cooing and gurgling ruined Branagh’s return to the RSC after 30 years, with some seeking refundsBoatswain! The opening scene of Shakespeare’s seminal play The Tempest, in which Prospero conjures up a violent storm to shipwreck his treacherous brother, is enough to wake up anyone – let alone a baby. Audience members at a matinee performance of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production, starring Kenneth Branagh as Prospero, complained after a baby gurgled and...

Tempest in the stalls as baby disrupts Kenneth Branagh RSC performance

Audience members said baby’s cooing and gurgling ruined Branagh’s return to the RSC after 30 years, with some seeking refundsBoatswain! The opening scene of Shakespeare’s seminal play The Tempest, in which Prospero conjures up a violent storm to shipwreck his treacherous brother, is enough to wake up anyone – let alone a baby. Audience members at a matinee performance of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production, starring Kenneth Branagh as Prospero, complained after a baby gurgled and...

The Tempest review – Kenneth Branagh returns to the RSC in this enchanting production

Kenneth Branagh has returned to the Royal Shakespeare Company to star in a production of *The Tempest*, taking on the role of Prospero for the first time. While Branagh's portrayal is described as somewhat underwhelming and rushed, the production itself is praised for its enchanting sights, sounds, and strong ensemble work. Richard Eyre's direction is noted for successfully bringing a strong sense of performance to the play.

Rivals’ Rutshire – a place where modern Britain’s brutal divisions disappear in a cloud of sex | Jess Cartner-Morley

As the second series of the Jilly Cooper adaptation climaxes, we can be thankful that quality TV doesn’t always have to be bleak and stressfulFor Jilly Cooper devotees – a motley band that unites me with Queen Camilla and Joanna Lumley, Ian Rankin and ex-footballer Tony Adams – it has been the best of times, and the worst of times. (No apologies for the clunky Tale of Two Cities misquote. Jilly was fond of gleefully shoehorning in the odd bit of Dickens, or Shakespeare, or Wordsworth.)

A Man Who Reads Books for a Living (One Every Two Days)

The Man Who Reads Books For a Living (One Every Two Days) You Have Clarke Speicher to Thank (Or Blame) For the Recent Train Dreams Adaptation When Clarke Speicher (spike-er) asked how I liked the screen adaptation of Train Dreams, Denis Johnson’s novella following the solitary logger Robert Granier in the early 20th-century American West, he was actually asking whether it measured up to its source material.

British actor Patrick Godfrey, who played Leonardo da Vinci in Ever After, dies at 93

British actor Patrick Godfrey, who played Leonardo da Vinci in Ever After, dies at 93 He had a distinguished career spanning Shakespearean theatre, acclaimed film and television roles, and voice work in popular video games. Patrick Godfrey, the British actor best known for his portrayal of Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci in the 1998 fantasy film Ever After: A Cinderella Story, died on Thursday, his representatives have confirmed. A statement from talent agency Markham Froggatt and Irwin...

The Art of the Joyful Tearjerker

Last fall, while leaving a critic’s screening of the film Hamnet, I was confronted just outside the door by the production company’s chirpy PR handler. she asked, as if the rivers of mascara streaming down my cheeks weren’t a clear enough signal. “Oh God,” I blurted out, before turning heel toward the bathroom.