{"id":641,"date":"2021-12-18T09:37:56","date_gmt":"2021-12-18T09:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/?p=641"},"modified":"2021-12-20T20:08:11","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T20:08:11","slug":"a-jumbo-hamlet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/a-jumbo-hamlet\/","title":{"rendered":"A Jumbo Hamlet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Patricia Keeney<\/strong><a href=\"#end\" name=\"back\">*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#e3c7ca\">William Shakespeare\u2019s <em>Hamlet<\/em>. Live-streamed from The Young Vic in London, directed by Greg Hersov. Cast: Cush Jumbo (Hamlet), Jonathan Ajayi (Laertes), Joana Borja (Gildenstern\/Osric), Adrian Dunbar (Claudius\/The Ghost), Tara Fitzgerald (Gertrude), Norah Lopez Holden (Ophelia), Johnathan Livingstone (Horatio), Joseph Marcell (Polonius), Adele Oni (Bernardo), Taz Skyler (Rosencrantz\/Fortinbras\/Marcellus), Leo Wringer (Fortinbras Captain\/Player\/Gravedigger. October 25 to November 13, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of us have seen many <em>Hamlet<\/em>s. We have watched this play crack the world open and writhe in its death throes. If, as Hamlet, Prince of Denmark says, \u201cnothing is but thinking makes it so,\u201d then nothing is that does not exist in <em>Hamlet<\/em>. Shakespeare\u2019s play continues to enthrall and torment us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Postponed by the pandemic and finally broadcast to live audiences, the Young Vic\u2019s <em>Hamlet <\/em>starring Cush Jumbo (of television\u2019s <em>The Good Fight <\/em>fame) tackles our tortured, confusing times head-on. Jumbo\u2019s Hamlet feels energized from an ancient powerful place. A woman of colour, her sculptural bearing and luminous face as Hamlet, rivet our attention. Physically alert, always wary, her presence even in stillness, radiates fierce vitality. Her deep voice, accented with subtle authority, registers menace and fear, anger and irony, punky defiance and humour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-YoungVic-photo-11.jpg?resize=400%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-645\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-YoungVic-photo-11.jpg?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-YoungVic-photo-11.jpg?resize=200%2C300&amp;ssl=1 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption>Hamlet (Cush Jumbo) reading. Photo: Helen Murray<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In her delivery and forceful presence, Hamlet\u2019s first soliloquy with its \u201cFrailty thy name is woman\u201d jibe, begins to create a being who contains many possibilities: new, old and not yet discovered. If Hamlet is at war with himself over whether, how and when to kill Uncle Claudius who murdered his father and married his mother, he is also at war with the many unrealized selves that wrestle inside him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngVic-9.jpg?resize=400%2C400&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-647\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngVic-9.jpg?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngVic-9.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngVic-9.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption>Norah Lopez Holden as a puzzled and frustrated Ophelia. Photo: Helen Murray<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In their opening scene together, Hamlet and Ophelia (intelligently realized by Norah Lopez Holden) groove to Salsa music. She in earphones, ruffed sleeves and jeans. He in scruffy work clothes. This production courts the contemporary almost as an afterthought, allowing a range of relevance without locking onto specifics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Generally, the rest of the cast revolve around Jumbo\u2019s smouldering Prince like lesser planets in the solar system, adding what they can. The Polonius\/Laertes show raises preachifying to comic heights. Laertes warns his sister off Hamlet. Polonius warns his son against a spendthrift life waving a credit card under his nose. Ophelia, in shorts and tennis socks, reports airily on Hamlet\u2019s weird behaviour. Hamlet\u2019s university buddies, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, bounce in taking palace selfies, their antics redolent of hijinks at Wittenberg rather than the gravitas of philosophy students. A \u201cfemale\u201d Guildenstern, Joana Borja, sparkling in tangerine trousers, renders this bit of diverse casting somewhat problematic. Her Guildenstern, being more obviously \u201cfemale\u201d than Jumbo as Hamlet, asks us to ignore the anachronism that no woman would have attended university in early modern times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-3.jpg?resize=400%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-644\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-3.jpg?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-3.jpg?resize=200%2C300&amp;ssl=1 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption>Joana Borja\u2019s delighted Guildenstern. Photo: Helen Murray<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Hamlet\u2019s dilemma thickens, spying is seriously undertaken by everyone. When Polonius checks on the wayward prince, he finds Hamlet in the familiar reading scene that has typically cast him as a brooding philosopher. This Hamlet, in sweats and a knapsack, dumps a bunch of newspapers on the floor, then sprawls over them, a disconsolate juvenile delinquent facing down a concerned parent. Lobbing infuriating puns at Polonius, Jumbo flails gymnastically to illustrate that famous image of age and inefficacy\u2014a crab going backwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-YoungVic-18.jpg?resize=400%2C400&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-648\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-YoungVic-18.jpg?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-YoungVic-18.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-YoungVic-18.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption>Jumbo&#8217;s Hamlet, Fitzgerald&#8217;s Gertrude and Ajayi&#8217;s Laertes: a moment of solidarity in uncertain times. Photo: Helen Murray<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The production is not short on humour. Nor does it need to apologize for its track through the text. One is aware of much merging and shortening, of tightening and re-structuring, all in the service of dramatic impact and a consistent vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jumbo delivers the \u201cTo be or not to be\u201d soliloquy along lines of logic and despair. The big soliloquys all exemplify intelligence wrestling with anguish. \u201cWhat a piece of work is man, the paragon of animals,\u201d Hamlet tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. But the world is dead to him. \u201cMan delights not me\u2014no, nor woman neither.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It becomes apparent that this Hamlet is outgrowing his reality, is spilling over the categories\u2014male, female\u2014into which we are poured. Undone by family tragedy, he anticipates a creature who would discard all the old ways of being, would risk the continuing process of becoming. What Jumbo accomplishes in her embodiment of Hamlet is the increasingly urgent need to recognize our contradictory natures, to explore the range of human possibility each of us represents. Today, we recognize gender fluidity, racial and cultural diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-YoungVic-14.jpg?resize=400%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-646\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-YoungVic-14.jpg?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-YoungVic-14.jpg?resize=200%2C300&amp;ssl=1 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption>Cush Jumbo&#8217;s Hamlet and Tara Fitzgerald&#8217;s Gertrude. Mother and son envisioning a future that is not there. Photo: Helen Murray<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All this seethes beneath the dramatic imperatives of political ambition, sexual aberration and bloody family feud that Hamlet rides. An enigmatic, compelling figure wracked by guilt and an innate sense that there is something more that he is, must be, can do, Hamlet careers wildly through his own story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His self-laceration turns on Ophelia. In their youth and doomed love, they represent a future lost. \u201cGet thee to a nunnery,\u201d he snaps, \u201cor if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.\u201d \u201cOh what a noble mind is here o\u2019erthrown,\u201d Ophelia laments, sensing imminent disaster and deepening momentarily into the woman she must become for the brief time she has left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The visiting players warm up with vocal exercises and exaggerated sexual poses. \u201cSpeak the speech, I pray you,\u201d demands a distraught Hamlet. Then, echoing through a microphone the players\u2019 murderous dumbshow, he blares out the \u201cpoisoning\u201d accusation. Claudius exits in distress. The scene climaxes in riot and rap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now begins a precipitous plunge to denouement, intensified by fraught moments of heartbreaking pain. Hamlet contemplating Claudius in contrite prayer. Raging at his mother. Killing Polonius in that famous plot twist of deadly irony. The Prince is visited once more by the paternal apparition and cringes with tears of gut-wrenching frustration at the blunt reminder that he still has not avenged his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-2.jpg?resize=800%2C533&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-2.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-2.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>Joseph Marcell as Polonius and Jonathan Ajayi as Laertes, father and son vying for authority in a tense situation. Photo: Helen Murray<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jumbo continues to deepen Hamlet\u2019s anger as the play plummets to its bloody end. Her interpretation juggles headlong impetuous fury with a constant quivering control, capable of improvising the way out of mental traps at every turn. Familiar lines ring ever more fatefully in her delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ophelia enters, singing distractedly through tears. Laying out herbs for her dead father she invokes multiple sorrows\u2014a beloved parent, a lost Hamlet, even the child they will never have. Her song is rough and disjointed, her grief fully affected in the arms of her brother, Laertes, as she rocks and screams in hysterical staccato. Fleetingly, Ophelia actualizes a life unlived in this thoughtful interpretation of the role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-1.jpg?resize=800%2C533&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-642\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-1.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-1.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-1.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>Cush Jumbo\u2019s Hamlet up close and personal with Yorick\u2019s skull. Photo: Helen Murray<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Death takes centre stage now gently introducing the Yorick scene with Bob Marley\u2019s \u201cThree Little Birds\u201d and the gravedigger chuckling along in Rasta. Holding the jester\u2019s skull beneath her own glistening head, Jumbo\u2019s Hamlet highlights an unforgettable image of the life-death balance, destiny impossibly suspended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What one remembers from the final slaughter is Hamlet in Horatio\u2019s arms, crying, \u201cI am dead Horatio. Tell my story.\u201d The anguished prince smiles and shakes his head, saying, \u201cThe rest is silence.\u201d That immortal line resonates back through Jumbo\u2019s rendering of the role, emphasizing its significance in our current cultural climate. Each age finds its own <em>Hamlet<\/em>. It is why the play endures. This one reminds us how theatre that honours diversity in re-imagining the classics can transcend our divisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even theatre viewed on screens. Watching this <em>Hamlet<\/em> (live-streamed during one of the earliest of 54 sold-out performances), one experiences the tantalizing effect of something significant but slightly out of reach. Despite various camera angles, there is still a sense of distance, of not quite catching each moment. Is this better than not seeing the production at all? Absolutely. For 15 as opposed to 43 pounds, you\u2019re almost there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Note<\/strong>: all shows in the Young Vic\u2019s current season are being live-streamed via their Best Seat in Your House platform. Clearly, a new theatre reality.<a name=\"end\">&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-thumbnail alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/Patricia-Keeney-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/Patricia-Keeney-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/Patricia-Keeney-1.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a name=\"end\" href=\"#back\">*<\/a><strong>Patricia Keeney<\/strong> is an award-winning Canadian literary and theatre critic. She is also a widely published and translated poet and novelist. Her most recent books are the novel <em>One Man Dancing<\/em> (Inanna) based on the history of Uganda\u2019s legendary Abafumi theatre company and a collection of poetry and contemporary dialogues called <em>Orpheus in Our World<\/em> (NeoPoiesis) based on the earliest Greek hymns. Keeney is a longtime professor of Literature, Humanities and Creative Writing at Toronto\u2019s York University. Website: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/wapitiwords.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\">wapitiwords.ca<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Copyright <strong>\u00a9<\/strong> 2021 Patricia Keeney<br><em>Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/88x31.png?w=800&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Creative Commons Attribution International License\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">This work is licensed under the<br>Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performance-reviews"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":335,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/ion-caramitru-an-artistic-guiding-force-1942-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":641,"position":0},"title":"Ion Caramitru &#8211; An Artistic Guiding Force (1942-2021)","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"November 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Maria Z\u0103rnescu* Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. (Shakespeare, Hamlet) They say a man is not dead as long as another still remembers his voice. Ion Caramitru has not died, nor has he retired to take a rest.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;In Memoriam&quot;","block_context":{"text":"In Memoriam","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/in-memoriam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image10.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image10.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image10.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image10.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":668,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/back-to-the-tent-canadas-stratford-festival-goes-retro-during-the-pandemic\/","url_meta":{"origin":641,"position":1},"title":"Back to the Tent: Canada\u2019s Stratford Festival Goes Retro During the Pandemic","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"December 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Martin Morrow* A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream, by William Shakespeare, directed by Peter Pasyk; June 22\u2013July 25, 2021. R+J, by William Shakespeare, directed by Ravi Jain; Aug. 12\u2013Sept. 26, 2021. The Rez Sisters, by Tomson Highway, directed by Jessica Carmichael; July 13\u2013Aug. 15, 2021. Three Tall Women, by Edward Albee, directed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Performance Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/image6.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/image6.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/image6.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/image6.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":651,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/dada-shakespeare-oakland-fun-during-the-plague\/","url_meta":{"origin":641,"position":2},"title":"Dada Shakespeare: Oakland Fun during the Plague","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"December 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Lissa Tyler Renaud* The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised], by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, Jess Winfield; additional material by Reed Martin. Presenter: African-American Shakespeare Company, San Francisco; Artistic Director L. Peter Callender. Directed by Reed Martin. Premiere: Oct. 3, 2021, in San Francisco, California; re-mounted Oct. 9, 2021,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Performance Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-DadaShake-Image4.Girls_.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-DadaShake-Image4.Girls_.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-DadaShake-Image4.Girls_.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-DadaShake-Image4.Girls_.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":172,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/ion-caramitru-un-acteur-plus-quacteur\/","url_meta":{"origin":641,"position":3},"title":"Ion Caramitru, un acteur plus qu\u2019acteur","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"October 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Georges Banu* Ion Caramitru a disparu violemment au d\u00e9but de l\u2019automne et cela fut ressenti comme un s\u00e9isme pour la vie th\u00e9\u00e2trale roumaine. Caramitru repr\u00e9sente cette figure rare d\u2019un \u00ab\u00a0acteur plus qu\u2019acteur\u00a0\u00bb car s\u2019il a brill\u00e9 dans de r\u00f4les titres devenus historiques il s\u2019est impliqu\u00e9 et a agi sur le\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;In Memoriam&quot;","block_context":{"text":"In Memoriam","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/in-memoriam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/10\/Caramitru-in-Hamlet.jpg?fit=800%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/10\/Caramitru-in-Hamlet.jpg?fit=800%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/10\/Caramitru-in-Hamlet.jpg?fit=800%2C582&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/10\/Caramitru-in-Hamlet.jpg?fit=800%2C582&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":360,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/migrating-shakespeare-first-european-encounters-routes-and-networks\/","url_meta":{"origin":641,"position":4},"title":"Migrating Shakespeare: First European Encounters, Routes and Networks","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"November 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Edited by Janet Clare and Dominique Goy-Blanquet\u00a0293p.+ xiv.\u00a0 Bloomsbury (The Arden Shakespeare Series) Reviewed by Philippe Rouyer*(Ed. Note: Published in English. Reviewed in French) Ce livre est publi\u00e9 en anglais\u00a0; il n\u2019y a pas pour l\u2019instant de traduction pr\u00e9vue. Il rassemble onze articles et une introduction de 27 pages par\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/Rouyer-150x150-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":551,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/sir-antony-sher-actor-artist-diarist-novelist-playwright\/","url_meta":{"origin":641,"position":5},"title":"Sir Antony Sher: Actor, Artist, Diarist, Novelist, Playwright","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"December 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Ian Herbert* Antony Sher, who has died from cancer at the age of 72 (14 June 1949\u20132 December 2021), has been frequently described as one of the greatest actors of his generation, a view shared by HRH Prince Charles, an avid Shakespeare enthusiast, who named him in 2017 as his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;In Memoriam&quot;","block_context":{"text":"In Memoriam","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/in-memoriam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/Antony-Sher-feat.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/Antony-Sher-feat.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/Antony-Sher-feat.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/Antony-Sher-feat.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-youngvic-photo-1.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":745,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions\/745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}