• Colour drawing of a staged theatrical scene framed by two symmetrical classical structures with niches containing gilded statues, flanked by trees. At the centre, a painted backdrop shows an island within an archipelago, with a visible settlement; in the foreground, a vessel approaches the shore. Four figures stand before the backdrop holding branches and other objects. The composition is enclosed within a thin rectangular gold border.

Shakespeare’s Instability

by Jeffrey Knapp The first speaker in one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays is not a prince, like Hamlet, or a lover, like Juliet, or a warrior, like Macbeth. He’s a drunken beggar. And he’s incensed that the hostess of the tavern…

The Politics of ‘Acting’: Why Cast Comedians?

By Neil Archer What makes a performance ‘truthful’? In one of my previous professional lives, as an actor, this question was one that concerned me on an everyday and practical level. But it’s one I’m still dealing with in my…

Five Unmissable Performances from Penny Dreadful

By Benjamin Poore For the uninitiated, Penny Dreadful is a genre-busting neo-Victorian fantasy horror show, set in the 1890s, in a world where Victor Frankenstein, his Creature, Professor Van Helsing, and Dorian Gray can all co-exist. It’s a world where…