A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (The Lord Chamberlain’s Men)*****

 

By Aashiq

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txHaPB6S6AU

Available until: Don’t ask me. No-one tells me anything.

Watching a Lord Chamberlain’s Men production like stepping back in time, without having to suffer all the inconveniences that would go with it like a complete lack of internet access and anti-ageing facials and the small matter of my marriage being illegal. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an absolutely gorgeous production and I’m not just saying that because all the actors are men.

THE TEMPEST (The Lord Chamberlain’s Men)****

By Cal

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBWsaO7wgnQ

Link with accessibility options: https://www.scenesaver.co.uk/production/the-tempest-lcm/

I think this is my fifth lockdown performance of The Tempest, but I’m not bored with it yet. With all Shakespeare’s plays, I feel every production is different and shows me something new.

There were two ways this production stood out as being different. Firstly, it was an all-male production. Many people won’t like the idea of women being excluded from productions and I would definitely want this to be the exception rather than the rule, but I do think it’s interesting to see the roles played by men, especially as that’s how it would have been in Shakespeare’s time.  The world hadn’t learned then that women are equal to men (and that there are more than two genders anyway) and that is sad, but all-male productions are part of our history and I was very interested to see this one.