Sitting In The Cheap Seats

Shakespeare’s Globe is delighted to announce the summer season 2020 will include Shakespeare’s  Romeo & Juliet ,  Much Ado About Nothing ,  Twelfth Night ,  Antony & Cleopatra , a two-day event ‘ Globe 4 Globe: Shakespeare and Climate Emergency’ , a symposium  ‘Shakespeare and Race’ , a Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank production of  Macbeth  with 20,000 free tickets to school children, the return of  family festival ‘Telling Tales’ , and a new dramatisation of  Ovid’s  Metamorphoses  by our resident writers .

Last weekend’s TyrrellsPremier 15s gave us a tightly contested and incredibly interesting gamebetween Worcester and Richmond Women .While the Warriors would leave with the win there were a lot of reasons to bepositive for the London side so we caught up with one of their most excitingyoung talents, Sadia Kabeya to gaugethe mood at the Athletic Ground Richmond walked away with a losing bonus point from their bruisingencounter at Sixways, but Kabeya is adamant from the off that it wasn’t all negativefor Richmond. “We took a lot of positives away from the game. That’s one of thebest performances we’ve had so far. I’ve especially shown a lot of improvement.Obviously there are a lot of things we need to work on. This week in trainingwe’ve really focused on our defence. It was a tight, challenging game for usbut I feel it was a turning point. Previously Worcester were the only team we’dbeaten so to lose against them has been a bit of a shock and it’s brought ustogether this week in training...

Shakespeare’s Globe is delighted to announce full casting for the next two productions opening in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in February:  The Taming of the Shrew , directed by  Maria Gaitanidi , and Thomas Middleton’s  Women Beware Women , directed by  Amy Hodge .

The mince pies have been opened, there are presents under the tree and the only thing missing from our perfect Christmas was our annual visit to see Chichester Festival Theatre ’s Christmas production. Last night we braved the rain to get our festive fix and, as always, it was a highlight of our theatrical year!

Last weekend saw the Red Roses secure an impressive win on French soil. The first for England Women since 2012, against a France team who had won 17 of their previous 18 games. With a return fixture this Saturday in Exeter we caught up with Gloucester-Hartpury lock Zoe Aldcroft to see how the team were preparing.

After a summer series over in the US that saw the Red Roses focusing firmly on squad development, and still racking up their share of wins, it’s time once again for the squad to set their sights on results. We caught up with head coach Simon Middleton and Red Roses & Harlequins Women try-scoring phenom Jess Breach to find out just how that preparation is going.

It’s amazing how a show as ubiquitous as Les Miserables can at once be utterly recognisable and thoroughly fresh. This tour, currentlyspending some time in Southampton at the Mayflower Theatre feels morealive than any of the half a dozen or more previous visits I’ve made to revolutionaryFrance. Laurence Connor and James Powell ‘s (relatively) new production may not have the cosy familiarity of the original Trevor Nunn (I still miss the revolve) but it makes up for that with a relentless energy. No production holds together without strong central castingthough and most especially the twin pillars of Valjean and Javert who hold somuch of the plot together. Killian Donnelly unsurprisingly sings Valjean’spart beautifully but he also brings a tenderness underpinned by steely resolveto the role. Opposite him Nic Greenshields is a formidable officer ofthe law, but he too shows the characters humanity, particularly in a lovelymoment when he searches the barricades for the body of Valj...