Reuben Johnson Archives - North West End UK

Twelfth Night – Shakespeare North Playhouse

12Jun

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North West

Twelfth Night – Shakespeare North Playhouse

As we approach the second anniversary of the opening of the Shakespeare North Playhouse, we can begin to assess its impact both within the local area and upon the wider northern theatrical scene. By teaming up with Not Too Tame, an independent theatre company based in Warrington for this version of ‘Twelfth Night’, we can see their intent to use of local voices to retell Shakespearean stories in an accessible way, an endeavour that was only partially successful in this production. Shakespeare’s tale of misunderstanding and cross dressing has undergone a renaissance in its popularity over the last decade, with the opportunity for directors to overtly queer the storyline and allow LGBTQ+ themes to be explored in the writing in an effective and sympathetic way. Whilst Director Jimmy Fairhu...

The Legend of Ned Ludd – Everyman Theatre, Liverpool

The cast list is handed over rolled up like a treasure map (as well as a poster: a sinister robotic head against a binary code background); you need a few clues because this random collection of vignettes doesn’t always shed much light. And you could call it irony that a play dealing with commercialism and the Industrial Revolution, machines taking over, has a High Tec setting, yellow scaffolding with what looks like an Amazon warehouse at the back, fronted by a factory. Props are robustly manhandled or pop up through the floor or are doled out on conveyor belts. Including clothing; the cast are booted and suited as it were in a brown and beige peasant uniform, which helps enable role and gender swapping: fair play, Shaun Mason as the sulky little girl hankering after a balloon, while i...

The Hound of Baskervilles opens at Bolton Octagon in July

Bolton’s recently refurbed Octagon Theatre’s first inhouse production will be the Sherlock Holmes classic, The Hound of the Baskervilles. The comedy adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic adventure will be directed by the Octagon’s artistic director Lotte Wakeham and adapted for the stage by Steven Canny and John Nicholson. It’s the familiar story with a comic twist of world-renowned detective Sherlock Holmes and his colleague Dr Watson unravelling the mystery surrounding the untimely death of Sir Charles Baskerville. With rumours of a cursed giant hound on the loose, they must act fast to save the Baskerville family’s last remaining heir. Leading the case as the famous sleuth is Salford born actor and Octagon Youth Theatre alumnus Reuben Johnson joined...