Sitting In The Cheap Seats

Josette Simon and Antony Byrne. Photo by Helen Maybanks After the heated political tension of Julius Caesar , the Royal Shakespeare Company ’s Rome season continues with a foray into Egypt for Antony & Cleopatra . The mood here is, initially at least, much lighter than the previous visit to Mark Antony but there are still tensions in Rome!

Andrew Woodall as Caesar. photo by Helen Maybanks It’s an accepted cliché that, whatever the prevailing political mood there is a Shakespeare play that adequately reflects, comments on or holds a mirror up to it. Like all the best clichés it has become so ingrained in the consciousness of theatregoers because it is largely true. Thus at a time when we worry about the power of world leaders like Trump and the ability of political parties with extremist views to gain momentum Julius Caesar seems incredibly apt.

A brand new version of the Tim Rice musical comedy  Blondel (long a   guilty pleasure of those of us here in the Cheap Seats) ,  which follows the trials and triumphs of an ambitious minstrel in King Richard the Lionheart’s court, will get its London premiere at the Union Theatre from Wednesday 21 June – Saturday 15 July!