Romeo & Juliet: Londonist & Stats

A quick moment of blowing my own trumpet, if you please.

Just excited to share the news that my review of Romeo & Juliet at The Globe on londonist has this week climbed three places to number 4 in the most-read posts of the month.

Maybe it's the fact that Romeo & Juliet at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is google-friendly; maybe it's the picture gallery that's pushed up the stats; maybe it's the comments... whatever the reason, I'm really chuffed.

Let's hope for more like this in the future.

Ellie Kendrick, Toby Young, Judi Dench: Hell Hath No Fury Like Actresses, Critics and Commentators Scorned...

Well, a commenter kicked off about my slightly provocative review of Romeo & Juliet on londonist earlier in the week...

Fair enough, I think. I was quite cheeky about Ellie Kendrick, and appreciate someone commenting on my writing, whether for positive or negative. In some cases, negative feels more meaningful.

During the same couple of days I was interested to read that the lovely Judy Dench has also made her feelings known about Charles Spencer's comments about her performance in Madame De Sade:

"I've always rather admired you but now realise you're an absolute shit," she wrote.

The ever-readable Toby Young has made this brilliant addition to the Guardian's theatre blog on the subject:

The golden rule in theatreland is that you should never respond to your critics, no matter how uncharitable you think they've been. Whether you're a playwright or an actor, the correct response when asked to comment on an unfavourable notice is to deny all knowledge of it... They know that the worst punishment for a critic is to be ignored.

Most critics regard these sorts of letters as the equivalent of receiving a Tony award. Had I ever received a missive like that from a theatrical dame, I certainly would have milked it for all it was worth, just as Spencer has done...

...the best way to make a critic feel guilty about a negative review is to be gracious about it.

Thanks Toby. This certainly made me smile.

My Romeo and a Rubbish Juliet at Shakespeare's Globe

People who know me well know that I'm fairly obsessive when it comes to Shakespeare, Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare's Globe, and, in particular, Shakespeare plays at Shakespeare's Globe.

I'm happy to pay a fiver and stand; I've been there in my role as an English teacher, with a fab student; I've sat in v good seats with my bro, sis and sis-in-law; I've even been down on Shakespeare's birth-deathday and got into the free fun such a date brings.

And happily I've been freely cushioned and charmed by the press people on a couple of visits.

As a result, I've been lucky enough to see and review the following to date:

• Othello (May 07)
• The Merchant of Venice (July 07)
• The Frontline (July 08)
• and now, Romeo & Juliet (May 09)

But last night was the first time JC had been. It was nice to go with a fresh pair of eyes, but I'm sorry the play he saw wasn't quite up to scratch. I'd told him how good I thought Ellie Kendrick was going to be: sadly, she totally failed to live up to my enthusiastic promises.

But it was still a lovely night out. CB and her mate J were there, as was my new friend Nick Curtis (!), and a few other critics I recognise (like KB). And I think (hope!) JC enjoyed it too.

I simply love the place.

I'll stick my neck out and say I'm pretty sure Shakespeare's Globe is my favourite place in the whole of London.

Sure, it's uncomfortable, awkward, hard to hear, and, well, quite hard work. But that's what Shakespeare's like too, so it feels like a totally fitting venue to me.

I love how you can watch other people watching the play. How you have to work hard to get the most out of it. How you do have to strain to hear. How people do this weird endurance thing with the hard benches and the standing, and still come back.

And I'm looking forward to seeing more things there in the future.