AS YOU LIKE IT (Shake-Scene Theatre Company/Cream Faced Loons)*****

 

By Emma

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnxD1zy6g88 

Available until: Unknown

This production of As You Like It was the first ever collaboration between Shake-Scene Theatre Company and the Cream Faced Loons. I’ve watched productions from both of them and really enjoyed them. I’ve seen quite a few Shake-Scene productions and I reviewed their The Merry Wives of Windsor which I loved. But they’re equally good at tragedy, their Macbeth was actually quite emotional and The Winter’s Tale is a beautiful story with a bit of everything and Shake-Scene’s production was lovely.

LEAR (Cream Faced Loons Theatre Company)*****

 

By Louise

Link to playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp9ljWlQivIN3lhFgJNXBZ9zZyzPnxcon

Available until: Unknown

This is a really lovely and clever adaption of King Lear, set in the COVID era. There are sixteen episodes, all a couple of minutes long and it looks like they were posted on sixteen consecutive days.

The series was written by Abey Bradbury and it’s so good. She takes all the important events in King Lear and fits them really convincingly into the modern COVID world. It really surprised me how well it worked. King Lear is about the dividing up of lands and it has a very historical feel (King Lear is thought of as Shakespeare’s fictional King, but he’s based on a legendary King called King Leir), but I suppose the lands aren’t really the important part of the play – it’s about the relationships between parents and children. That is something which has gone on for centuries and will probably continue to go on forever.