All Manner of Excitement from Shakespeare's Globe

Shakespeare's Globe is one of my favourite places in London.

If you asked me why, I'd say there are lots of reasons. My interest in Shakespeare started pretty early: I can clearly remember being asked to read Sir Toby Belch's lines from Twelfth Night in class aged about 11 or 12, and, just like Latin and languages (at the time!), I was fascinated by the pull between the familiarity and strangeness of the words... Also, the sweet feeling of release when you were allowed to talk out loud in class...

Then, my Mum and I became regular visitors to Stratford-upon-Avon; as tourists, as something to do with your youngest kid when the others were off having fun; as people for whom anything recognisably historic, particularly Tudor, was going to be of interest...

When I played Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream aged 14, learning the lines felt quite easy; it was the same when we were asked to study Othello for A Level. I was quite happy noodling away reading A C Bradley's thoughts on the Moor (totally unnecessary for passing A Level) while my French grades slipped: the result was 100% in the "Shakespeare and the Drama" module, which really stood for "she's read more than she should."

Mum and I made a cardboard model of the Globe Theatre (the one in London, that didn't exist at the time; this theatre, to my mind, was from ancient history) when I was still a young teenager. It wasn't easy either; it was fiddly, awkward and took what felt like a very long time to complete. The sense of accomplishment (combined with the smell of the glue) when we were finally finished was amazing.

Later, the idea that they'd built this complicated not-at-all circular when you're constructing it from card structure for real, in London, blew me away. My parents sent me a postcard of the new Globe when they first visited, while I was studying in Liverpool. It was around the same time as Shakespeare in Love came out on video, and probably around the year I took a module called "Stage to Page to Stage" about how to actually put Shakespeare's words on stage. Joseph Fiennes plus a relatively sexy tutor meant my lifelong fascination was complete.

When I was a language teacher, I took one of my more proficient students to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe, having explained the love potions and silly plot to her beforehand; it was great, and she loved it too. Since I started reviewing for londonist, they've been kind enough to offer me review tickets many times, and I've always enjoyed the experience, if not every play.

It's just a classy place: the staff, the programmes, the posters, the standing for a fiver, the shop, pretty much everything about The Globe pleases me. Just seeing a picture of it, looking so pristinely black and white, so pleasingly built-for-purpose, so alien to the modern blocks around it, will make me smile.

Recently, I've been engrossed by this blog by Tara Hale about her designs for the new season's programmes.

And then there's two these two bits of exciting news from the Globe in just one day. First, that the Globe team are as suitably ambitious about celebrating multiculturalism in 2012 as we are with our World in London blog:

Twenty-eight plays. Twenty-eight languages. The simplicity of it is lovely. The incredible amounts of work involved; terrifying. I can't imagine how hard it must be having, say, four different acting companies using one theatre, its rehearsal rooms, dressing rooms, props cupboards. Making it run smoothly with 28 just seems gobsmacking. Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole described the festival as "terrifically clear and simple and slightly bananas". Got to agree with him there.

And secondly, that they're expanding. From 2013, the Globe's season will no longer run from around Shakespeare's birthday (23 April) to around mine (10 October). They'll be doing shows indoors as well.

I'm so chuffed with this news. Below are some of the pictures of what this new theatre will look like.

Exterior of the indoor Jacobean theatre at Shakespeare's Globe. Photo by Nick Robins

Model box interior of the proposed indoor Jacobea theatre. Created by Jonathan Fensom, photo by Fiona Moorhead

There'll be 320-seats, with two tiers of gallery seating and a pit area. From this model, it looks like it'll be as "challenging" on the arse as the current theatre.

Plans for an indoor Jacobean theatre, by kind permission of the Provost and Fellows of Worcester College Oxford

The theatre is based on these designs, above, from Worcester College, Oxford for a 17th-century indoor theatre. These plans are believed to be by Renaissance architect Inigo Jones or his protégé John Webb (I think more people might adhere to the latter theory?) and depict a venue similar to the Blackfriars theatre where Shakespeare and his contemporaries would've put on plays. They're the earliest plans for an English theatre in existence. (Wow.)

So, we'll be able to see plays like The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Pericles and Cymbeline in a theatre super-similar to the ones they were written for, from as early as winter 2013. I can only imagine good things will come of the Globe's company having more space and more time to fill.

Arts Ahead 7 to 13 September from londonist

I don't quite know what to think about Shoes at Sadler's Wells.

It sounded completely brilliant in its initial blurb, and then I saw a video of the show with various people singing and it rather put me off. Still, the pictures are fab, and that's why its my top pick this week. I'm looking forward to reading reviews of it tomorrow...

In the rest of this week's cultural occurences, the most exciting thing is that I'm going to see Deathtrap tomorrow with the lovely Groff-fancier, ET. I'm really looking forward to it. And desperately trying to avoid reading any reviews of it before I see it. (Damn those "second press night" tickets.)

I've also made a rare decision to turn down tickets to Bedlam at The Globe for Thursday. Sometimes there's just too much going on, and not enough vitamins in one's bloodstream. I can't help thinking that the combination of last weekend's wedding, next weekend's Go Apeing and a damp night out at the Globe in between might just scupper any "staying healthy for September" plans I might've had. I'm slightly gutted, as it means it kills any Full House ideas I had to see everything the Globe offers in one season, AND there's the small issue of it being the first play by A WOMAN ("That woman is.. a WOMAN!" etc - Shakespeare in Love) at the Globe, but sometimes your health has to come first.

Read the rest of what's coming up this week on my londonist Arts Ahead column

Spotted: Ian McNeice

When: last night
Where: Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

I always think it's nice when actors go to the theatre. I think it must mean they really like it.

I'm sure half the reason they're there is to be seen, too. Like journalists who need to be seen in the right places talking to the right people, actors must sometimes feel like they're constantly in an endless audition, never knowing when someone might spot them, be inspired, cast them in something wonderful and make them rich.

Anyway, Ian McNeice, who's currently appearing in Henry VIII at the Globe, was at the theatre's world premiere of Anne Boleyn last night, watching someone else play Cardinal Wolsey (Colin Hurley), which must've been weird.

The play itself was totally ace, and Hurley actually made a better Wolsey than the one I saw McNeice portray earlier in the summer...

Read my review of Anne Boleyn on londonist

Photo of Ian McNeice as Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII by John Tramper

Arts Ahead 27 July to 2 August from londonist

There's lots of theatre and dance on in London as July rolls into August.

And a perfect chance to use this fantastic image of Carlos Acosta. One day, I'll have to stop this theatrical merry-go-round and get off and onto a dance one. I'd love to see a ballet again, or something else exciting at the Coliseum or Sadler's Wells. One day...

But there's very little in the way of new art shows this week. For that, you have to wait until all the big blockbusters start up again in September.

For this week, I'm looking forward to another night at The Globe, this time seeing a non-Shakespeare play. (My third at the venue, after that Camden-set The Frontline, and Trevor Griffiths' epic A Life of Thomas Paine.)

This time, it's Howard Brenton's new play, Anne Boleyn. Starring the gorgeous one from Spooks, Miranda Raison. I'll let you know what its like...

Read the rest of Arts Ahead: What's On In London 27 July - 2 August on londonist

Henry IV Part 1 and 2: Stunning Histories with a Gorgeous History Boy Lead

What a stunning pair.

As Hal and Falstaff, Jamie Parker and Roger Allam made my day on Wednesday. They totally owned the stage, the play, the audience and all the applause with their spot-on performances.

Here's my review on londonist

Not knowing the plays, there were moments where I was completely bowled over by the brilliance of the text. Falstaff's language in particular features some incredible writing.

I loved the see-saw pairing of Hotspur and Hal in the first part; both sons, both young, both learning about life: one fun, one fanatical; one slovenly, one soldierly; one reluctant hero, one pushing too hard for heroism.

In the second, the moment when Hal took his dying father's crown, placed it on his head and runs off, only to have old Henry wake up and give him a proper telling off was amazing, particularly for someone who totally didn't see it coming...

And of course, the extraordinary, bitter moment when the gorgeous History Boy Parker's Hal grows up and rejects Falstaff... well, it has me in goosebumps now, just writing about it. I can still see Allam's limp hand starting to shake against his fat thigh as the full force of what has just happened starts to sink in.

It was a long old slog, getting through both parts of Henry IV at the Globe. Don't get me wrong: the bits that were brilliant were really brilliant, but as I always think about History plays, someone should be ruthless about the cutting.

And I almost always think they should be sharper with their pruning shears for shows at the Globe too. Everyone knows I love that theatre. It's up there in my favourite places in the whole of London. But even I have to admit its not a comfy place to be. I'm sure no one would ever complain about seeing a short, snappy version of a brilliantly acted Shakespeare play, particularly if they're standing. And yet they continue to play 3-hour versions of these shows...

I suggested to MA from SOLT that they should strip out all the extra stuff, knock the two together, and create one, funny, serious, moving and pretty epic play. I'm sure he thought I was being sacrilegious. But I think it'd work perfectly.

Photo shows Jamie Parker (Prince Hal) and Roger Allam (Falstaff). Photograph by John Haynes

Arts Ahead 13-19 July from Londonist

Here's this week's Arts Ahead from londonist, with what I hope is a nicely balanced range of arty, dancey and theatrey things for you to choose from this week.

And me? Well, this week I'm seeing Jeff Goldblum in The Prisoner of Second Avenue AND the lovely Jamie Parker in Henry IV Part 1, and Part 2 at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Back-to-back Shakespeare comes around again.

Yup, it's a busy week. Here's Lyn Gardner from the Guardian giving people some good advice on surviving the six-hour Shakespeare slog tomorrow. (And check out the 47 fainters from a Macbeth show earlier this year mentioned in the comments - a Globe record! Can you believe it?)

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. Let's hope it's good.

Read the rest of this week's Art Ahead on londonist

Image shows Studies on Light: Twilight, 1859 by Camille Silvy. Private Collection, Paris

Theatre News: Gemma Arterton, William Shakespeare and More

Here's my week's theatre news, courtesy of the Visit London Blog.

I've seen Gemma Arterton on stage in London before.

She was in The Little Dog Laughed earlier in the year, playing a fairly mundane, flaky, 20-something girl (no stretch, to be sure), but she made a pretty good job of it.

And I read an interview with her in Stylist, which painted her as a pretty down-to-earth actress with a bit of a brain. I was kind of drawn to her, which makes a change for a Stylist interviewee.

So I'm pleased to see she's scored another acting role, this time alongside Stephen Dillane, in what sounds like a pretty interesting Ibsen play, The Master Builder, at an interesting theatre, the Almeida.

Other news to make me giddy comes in the form of the RSC's announcement about the 8-plays-in-10-weeks thingamyjig at the Roundhouse. What a company. What a venue. What an idea. What a delight.

Whenever I think about A and I getting numb bums and possible DVT and slightly delirious during a day of Shakespeare during The Histories at the Roundhouse, I feel like I have to remind myself we actually did it. And it was wonderful.

Happily, I've been offered the chance to see the two parts of Henry IV back-to-back again this summer, this time at The Globe, so looking forward to that one.

Read the rest of this week's theatre news here

Spotted: Mark Rylance

When: last night
Where: Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, one of my favourite places on earth

Mr Rylance, former artistic director of the aformentioned esteemed establishment popped up in the audience last night. I hope he enjoyed himself.

He was wearing a rather jaunty black pork-pie hat, with a white band around it. Made me worry momentarily whether he was a) Justin Timberlake or b)... but hey.

CB admitted she's had rather a crush on him since his star turn in Jerusalem. I've always thought he was pretty great; perhaps I'll get to see him on stage soon; he's in Complicite's new Beckett thing...

The show was good, not amazing. I really enjoyed the performances; I'm just not convinced the play was quite good enough. Trevor Griffiths, also in the audience last night, has created a great script, line-by-line, but I needed a bit more of a dramatic curve to keep me going over the three hours.

Then if you call your new piece "A life...", you're going yourself into to get some tricky structural problems, I guess.

You can read my londonist review of A New World - A Life of Thomas Paine here.

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.

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.