Link:
The Merchant of Venice is definitely a problem play for me. There’s a lot here to make a modern audience very uncomfortable.
Another problem is whose side you’re on. Nobody behaves all that well – and while this is a charge that could be levelled at a number of Shakespeare’s characters, the characters in The Merchant of Venice aren’t as easy to invest in as such incredible creations as Iago and the Macbeths.
By Megan
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown
Lots of theatres are reopening all over the country but there is still lots of online theatre to be enjoyed and one company who has said they will keep going because they are enjoying it so much is Shake-Scene Theatre Company. They have already started their King Henry VI cycle with the final part coming next month. We will be reviewing all three close together like we did with Henry IV.
By Louise
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown
I find the history plays quite difficult so even though I knew Shake-Scene would do a brilliant performance of this play, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to appreciate it as much as it deserved. But this really is a great production with so many fun moments and it’s very easy to follow.
By Cal
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown
Richard II marks the beginning of a long history cycle which has sadly skipped King John, but he did reign quite a long time before Richard II. The other history plays more or less move from one King to the next. Judging from Shake-Scene’s performance of Richard II, it’s going to be a very exciting cycle. Richard III will not officially be part of this cycle as Shake-Scene have done this play already, but as we haven’t watched it yet, we will be sticking it on the end after Henry VI Part III.
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.
By Cal
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown
It’s easy to think of a play as something that’s there to entertain the audience. The cast and creatives do their job. We enjoy ourselves. But actually, acting can be a lot of fun for the performers too and that’s something you really notice with Shakes-Scene Shakespeare. They’re having an absolutely brilliant time.
By Louise
Link:
Available until: Unknown
The Winter’s Tale isn’t one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, but it has been one of the ones I have seen the most performances of in lockdown.
Maybe this is because it’s a wonderful play with a lot of
interesting themes which are relevant to today. The separation from some family
members is something which I’m sure we have all experienced and a lot of people
can identify with Leontes’ mental health problems too. Not his exact situation,
but he believes something so strongly, he can’t accept that something else
might be true and he doesn’t know how to deal with it. The Winter’s Tale
(I hope this is not a spoiler) also brings hope that we might get a happy
ending too, but it’s not a completely happy ending. Some things can’t go back
to the way they were and that is something that is relevant for us too.
By Megan
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown. If you can’t
find it, you could try again another time because they do come back.
Shake-Scene’s production of Macbeth
is very inventive and very emotional. Zoom theatre has been happening for
nearly a year now and a lot of companies are producing special effects which
are getting more and more impressive and it’s really great to watch but I think
there is still a lot to say for productions that keep it fairly simple.
By Louise
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown
Love’s Labour’s
Lost is supposed to be the first of two
plays, but ironically it was the other one that was lost. Some people think Much
Ado About Nothing is the sequel, but the characters are different and the
set-up is different so that would be very surprising unless Shakespeare started
off writing it one way, only for it to go in a completely different direction.
By Dave
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown
The Two Gentlemen
of Verona is one of the ‘problem plays’. It’s
probably Shakespeare’s first play (it’s difficult to be completely sure about
dates), though it might be his fourth. So it was probably his second or third,
simply because that’s how life tends to work sometimes!
But as it was an early play, I think
we can be understanding if things don’t quite work. After all, Shakespeare more
than makes up for it later. It’s really interesting to see the aspects of this
play which become such a feature of his other plays – two or more men in love
with the same girl; rings being given to the wrong people; comedy characters
who don’t strictly need to be there but the play wouldn’t be as good without
them.
By Louise
Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare
Available until: Unknown
Twelfth Night is Shake-Scene’s Christmas production and I
think it’s a great choice. Twelfth Night is an important part of Christmas. There
was always a bit of a fight at my infant school about who played the Wise Men
in the Nativity play.
I don’t think Twelfth Night or
Christmas is actually mentioned in the play, though Sir Toby starts to sing
something about the twelfth day in December, so maybe the main part of the
action takes place on ‘the twelfth night in December’. But I think the title
comes from the time when the play was first performed and it’s possible the
play is also set on or around Twelfth Night. In Elizabethan times, the Festival
of Twelfth Night involved men and women exchanging clothes and generally
behaving badly. Perhaps this is why the play ends happily for most of the
characters – maybe everyone accepts all the happenings as another typical
Twelfth Night.
By Cal
Link:
Available until: Unknown
This is a really difficult play. There is so much in it
that’s wrong. So many characters who behave badly – and most of them get away
with it. I don’t know why this play is so particularly difficult when the world
is full of stories about people behaving very badly – and it’s not all fiction
- but Measure for Measure usually makes me feel very uncomfortable.
By Alan
Link:
Available until: Unknown
I think this is the first play Shake-Scene ever did online.
They did some work with cue scripts before this but this is their first play. I
can’t say it’s their first full play
because they didn’t do the whole of Romeo
& Juliet but they did the story from beginning to end.
By Emma
Link:
Available until: Unknown
The Merry Wives of Windsor is basically a fanfic
request. Shakespeare had just written Henry IV Part 1 which included a
character called Sir John Falstaff. No-one is sure how real he is, there was a
Sir John Falstaff from around that time and some people think the character of
Falstaff was based on him. Other people think he’s a mixture of three different
real people and some people think he’s a total invention.
By Dave
Link:
Available until: Unknown
Here’s another great production from Shake-scene, the
online theatre company who barely rehearses and only gives actor a cue script,
consisting of their own line and the cues they need to listen out for. On
paper, it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Online, it’s another
remarkable piece of theatre.
By Aashiq
Link:
Available until: Unknown. They say they did Richard III
but I can’t find it anywhere. My husband says that just because I can’t
find it anywhere, that doesn’t mean it’s not there (and I think it’s mean of
him to bring that up and totally irrelevant), but I let him look too and he
couldn’t find it either so while I am very disappointed I probably won’t get to
see Shake-scene Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Richard III, I do at least
get to feel smug for the rest of the evening and I’m always happy to do that.
This is a cue-scripted production and although I am an
actor, I have never done this. It sounds absolutely terrifying and I take off
my tiara to every single one of them (then I put it back on again before I lose
it).
