In order to create an archive of the Shakespeare 400 activities that took place across all the partner organisations in 2016, a team of students at King's College London, from various disciplines and levels of study, reviewed as many of the events as possible.
Below are all of the reviews. Use the search box to find reviews
of a particular event.
Review by Andrew Home, MA in Philosophy. For 25 years the London Symphony Orchestra has used classical music to educate and inspire with its LSO Discovery programme. For ‘Play On Shakespeare’ they have teamed up with the Barbican for a mixture of child friendly, pantomime-like performances Read more...
Review by Cara Rodrigues, MSc Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience The Overture Shakespearian roared into existence a little after 6pm on Thursday 28th January 2016. The Southbank Sinfonia, having only come together a week before and comprised of eighteen different nationalities, brought St John’s Church thundering to life Read more...
Review by Caroline Martin, MA Shakespeare Studies. Following Fiona Talkington’s introduction and a promise that ‘spring [would] be in the air’, conductor David Hill and the BBC Singers begin a performance that, although springy, dares to venture into the darker tones of 20th and 21st century Shakespearean incidental music. Read more...
Review by Caroline Martin, MA Shakespeare Studies. On 27 January, the London Philharmonic Orchestra made a spectacular Shakespeare400 debut, calling it the ‘centrepiece of the LPO’s 2015/2016 concert season’. Read more...
Review by Rowena Hawkins, MA Shakespeare Studies. A lighting exhibition developed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Barbican Centre. Read more...
Review by Rowena Hawkins, MA Shakespeare Studies. BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. Barbican Hall. Read more...
Review by Richard Foord, MA Renaissance Literature. Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis takes on Berlioz’s complete ‘dramatic symphony’, a re-telling of Shakespeare’s indelible tragedy, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Read more...
Review by Caroline Martin, MA Shakespeare Studies. James Gilchrist as tenor and Anna Tilbrook on piano is a delightful musical pairing, and they present themselves with elegant yet comfortable professionalism. Read more...
Reviewed by Dr. Aidan Elliott, Department of English. In 1961 the newly-created Royal Shakespeare Company chose As You Like It as one of its first productions; Peter Hall asked Michael Elliott to direct it Read more...
Review by Amy Lidster, PhD Candidate, Department of English Gregory Doran’s RSC production of Henry V, part of the King & Country cycle, achieves something significant: it manages to distinguish itself from the myriad of recent productions of the play. By heightening its metatheatrical aspects and inventively utilising the audience, the production offers a captivating presentation of a less assured Henry, subsumed within the processes of writing and re-writing history. Read more...
