HAMLET (Bristol Old Vic)*****

 

By Megan

Link: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/hamlet-on-demand

Available until: 29^th November 2022 (48 hour rental)

Content warning: Violence, blood, vomit, death, suicide, live gunshots, strobe lighting

Age rating: 14+ (I'm only 12. I've seen Hamlet lots of times so we forgot to check the age rating because it's not a new play. It's not as violent as some of the films I've watched at sleepovers but Hamlet probably isn't a good choice for your first ever Shakespeare play)

 

I haven’t written a review for a very long time. I hope I haven’t forgotten how because this is a really good production which deserves the best possible review I can write. But I am out of practice and I am still only twelve so there might be things I get wrong and things I don’t understand.

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.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (Shake-Scene Theatre Company)*****

 

By Louise

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

Available until: Unknown

Antony and Cleopatra is classed as a tragedy, but there is a lot more to it than that. It is also a sort of history play as it deals with real historical events and there are some very dramatic scenes with physical and verbal battles. Nobody would ever call it a comedy, but there are scenes in it which are very funny.

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS (Shake-Scene Shakespeare Theatre Company)*****

 

By Tasha & Ry (The Twins!)

Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare (sign up here to access this and loads more brilliant plays, they’re doing the whole lot!)

Available until: Unknown

We love this because it is about twins! And what is even better than one set of twins? Twin sets of twins!

This is a really funny play. It doesn’t all make sense because I think if you go looking for your twin somewhere and get mistaken for someone else then it’s just like obviously your twin isn’t it? But we don’t think that matters. I think it’s more important for plays to be entertaining than it is for them to make sense. Making sense is like so overrated.

HENRY VIII (Shake-Scene Shakespeare Theatre Company)*****

 

By Louise

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

Available until: Unknow

Henry VIII is probably Shakespeare’s least-known history play. King John is another one that isn’t performed often, but I think people with an interest in Shakespeare usually know it exists. Before I started watching Shakespeare in lockdown, I didn’t even know there was a Henry VIII, but I’ve been lucky enough to see four productions in lockdown. It’s a very enjoyable play – especially with a cast like this – with interesting characters and so many really powerful moments.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (SupportBritish)*****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfL2t_VotoU

Available until: Unknown

Support British have produced a number of brilliant online productions during lockdown and A Christmas Carol is another opportunity to see a really entertaining play with some really excellent actors. It is also a good play for feeling Christmassy!

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.

OLIVER TWIST (Ramps on the Moon/Leeds Playhouse)*****

 

By Arran

Link: https://leedsplayhouse.org.uk/events/oliver-twist-at-home

Available until: 20^th November 2021. Available for 48 hours after the date and time of your showing.

Oliver Twist is a really brilliant play from Ramps on the Moon and it is a very important one too. I haven’t read the book (I don’t think even Megan has read it yet and she reads Shakespeare and Jane Austen) so I don’t know how close it is to the original though it is similar to the musical. But this production is not just about turning a book into a brilliant play. It is about showing how capable people with disabilities are.

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.

EMERGING VOICES (Sandhill Theater Company/Thornhill Theatre Space)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/thornhill-theatre/audio-fringe-ttsfringe2-IgbFPcUSyOZ

Available until: Unknown

Emerging Voices is a collection of eight short plays by students from the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, presented by Thornhill Theatre Space as part of #TTSFringe2. The plays were written when the students were in the 10^th-12th grades. If you’re in England or Wales, that’s Years 11-13 and if you’re in Scotland, that’s S4-S6. I’m in Year 10 and it is amazing to think some of these writers are only one year older than me, but they are already able to write really mature plays.

A 2020 VISION (Thornhill Theatre Space/Warrandyte Theatre Company/Ballarat National Theatre)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUldVu7FjdA

Available until: Unknown

A 2020 Vision is a really beautiful performance which is part of #TTFringe2. It’s all about the pandemic, which has caused a lot of sadness, but this play is full of happiness and hope.

It was written by Emma Wood ‘and the people of Victoria, Australia’ and it includes a selection of so many of the different situations the people of Victoria have faced since the start of the pandemic. Their words were taken from a questionnaire which asked fourteen questions over fourteen days to about two hundred people.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Shake-Scene Theatre Company)****

 

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.

AVANT ALICE (Thornhill Theatre Space)****

   

By Megan

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwH3OFeoeNw

Available until: Unknown

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story that has been adapted lots of times in lockdown and it has been really interesting to see all the different ways the story has been presented. It’s a story a lot of people really identify with at the moment. The whole idea of being in a new world where everything seems slightly off is one most of us can relate to.

ROSEGOLD (Thornhill Theatre Space)*****

 

  

By Cal

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uH1rOkpROA

Available until: Unknown

Rosegold, presented as part of #TTSFringe2, is an exceptionally powerful piece of writing which is wonderfully performed by the writer. There is no age rating, but it’s definitely a production where listener discretion is advised. There are descriptions of violence and injury as well as references to alcoholism. If you’re young or you’re feeling sensitive, this might not be a good time for you to listen to it, but maybe consider it again when you’re older or you feel stronger because it really is brilliant.

ZOOM, A PLAY FOR LOCKDOWN (Thornhill Theatre Space)****

 

By Megan

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXRViqvsCO0&t=16s

Available until: Unknown

I’m really enjoying Thornhill Theatre Space’s #TTSFringe2. It has so many different types of performances about different subjects and in different styles from all over the world. #TTSFringe2 is a really nice celebration of digital theatre which is something that has been really important to a lot of people for the last eighteen months.

CALEDONIAN SLEEPER (Edinburgh Festival)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/caledonian-sleeper

Available until: Unknown

The Edinburgh Festival is an important event in the calendar for many theatre fans, but it’s not something I’d experienced until lockdown. A number of different shows are available online. Some have to be watched live, but Caledonian Sleeper is one of many that can be watched on demand.