TITUS ANDRONICUS (Shake-Scene Theatre Company)****

 

By Alan

Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare

Available until: Unknown

Content warning: This play is recommended for 16+ and contains some very sensitive content including violence, rape and murder which is done very realistically even on Zoom. If you think this play might not be for you, watch one of the others by Shake-Scene instead. You get sensitive people of all different ages and that’s totally fine. But if it is your sort of thing then watch it because it’s a good production.

Additional Warning: Maybe don’t watch this if you’re eating. Especially not if it’s pie.

CORIOLANUS (Shake-Scene Theatre Company)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare

Available until: Unknown

Before lockdown, all I knew about Coriolanus is that yes, the last two syllables usually are pronounced in the rude way. Now, I’m a bit more educated about Shakespeare (and maybe even a bit more mature) and other parts of this play are far more interesting to me – including how surprisingly enjoyable Coriolanus is.

RICHARD III (Shake-Scene Shakespeare Theatre Company)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare (Shake-Scene recorded another Richard III in 2020. This is the one is from October 2021.)

Available until: Unknown

If you don’t know the normal British way of naming the Kings (which you might not if you don’t live in the UK), you might think Richard III is the third in a trilogy with Richard II being the second and Richard I… well maybe that got lost like Cardenio.

If you do know that Richard III is the third English King called Richard, you might think that Richard III is a standalone history play like King John.

HENRY VI PART III (Shake-Scene Theatre Company)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare

Available until: Unknown

The acting in Shake-Scene productions is always brilliant. The plots are really clear (though there are probably things I will understand better when I get older) and the actors perform with lots of enthusiasm. They are also the only company who uses cue scripts like Shakespeare did which gives them a real individuality. If you are interested in cue scripts you should definitely watch these plays. It is really interesting and cue scripts really do work.

HENRY VI PART II (Shake-Scene Shakespeare Theatre Company)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare

Available until: Unknown

Henry VI Part II is believed to be Shakespeare’s first history play. It’s not King John, which is the earliest historically. It’s not Henry VI Part I, which you’d expect to come before Part II. It was Henry VI Part II (though it probably wasn’t called Part II at the time). Well, it was probably the first. It’s difficult to be completely sure with Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare might actually have liked it that way. I think he liked to keep people guessing.

HENRY VI PART I (Shake-Scene Shakespeare Theatre Company)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare

Available until: Unknown

Half-term is traditionally a time when children have fun and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to watch the three parts of Shakespeare’s Henry VI over five days. It sounds quite a lot because even the shortest one (this one) is nearly four hours long but it’s by Shakespeare and it’s presented by Shake-Scene Shakespeare Theatre Company so I knew it was going to be really good.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (Shake-Scene Shakespeare Company)****

 By Cal

 

Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare

Available until: Unknown 

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.

THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (Shake-Scene Shakespeare Company)****

 

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.

TWELFTH NIGHT (Shake-Scene Theatre Company)*****

 

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.