Shakespeare Magazine 01

At last! A magazine with all the Will in the world 

SHAKESPEARE 

 

Celebrating 

450 years of the 

English language’s 

greatest-ever 

wordsmith 

 

Launch issue

Welcome 

Welcome 

Photo: David Hammonds 

to the first issue of Shakespeare Magazine 

Back in my teenage years, I was a bit of a Shakespeare 

fan. Doing an English degree at Oxford, however, 

was enough to firmly put me off literature for more 

than two decades. But I could never quite shake 

off my fascination for Shakespeare, and last year I 

found myself attempting for the first time to read the 

Complete Works. 

It was a defining, exhilarating, life-changing experience, one which 

also felt like a personal achievement – similar, I’d imagine, to climbing 

a mountain or running your first marathon. 

As a journalist, I instinctively looked for a magazine to enhance 

my rekindled love of the Bard. And I was stunned to discover that 

there wasn’t one. 

So 12 months later, here I am with the very first issue of 

Shakespeare Magazine, built from scratch by myself and Art Editor 

Paul McIntyre, along with a team of contributors who have been 

amazingly generous with their time and talent. 

Shakespeare Magazine is free to absolutely anyone in the world 

– although it would certainly help if you understand English, have 

internet access and are interested in Shakespeare. 

I’m thrilled to be launching Shakespeare Magazine in the week we 

celebrate 450 years since the birth of the man himself. It’s yet another 

testament to the enduring power and magic of his words. 

I hasten to add that I’m absolutely not a Shakespeare expert or 

any kind of authority. I’m just a humble journalist embarking on a 

journey with Shakespeare. And you’re very warmly invited to join me. 

Enjoy your magazine. 

Pat Reid, Founder & Editor 

SHAKESPEARE magazine 3

At last! A magazine with all the Will in the world 

SHAKESPEARE 

 

Celebrating 

450 years of the 

English language’s 

greatest-ever 

wordsmith 

 

Contents 

Launch issue 

Shakespeare Magazine 

Issue One 

23 April 2014 

Founder & Editor 

Pat Reid 

Art Editor 

Paul McIntyre 

Advertising Manager 

Helen Forsyth 

Writers 

Robin Askew 

Zoe Bramley 

Andrew Bretz 

Koel Chatterjee 

Emma Gutteridge 

Lisa Houston 

Naomi Lord 

Kate Madison 

Samantha Mann 

Helen Mears 

Tom Phillips 

Brooke Thomas 

Daniela Verdejo 

Photography 

David Hammonds 

Gavin Roberts 

Ceramic Art 

Hannah Tribe 

Cover 

Engraving by Martin Droeshout, 

1623 

Thank You 

Richard Forsyth 

Guy Radcliffe 

Laura Pachkowski 

Mrs Mary Reid 

Thomas Xavier Reid 

Contact Us 

shakespearemag@outlook.com 

Twitter 

@UKShakespeare 

Coming Soon 

www.shakespearemagazine.com 

Game of crowns 10 

How Hollow Crown Fans made Shakespeare a Twitter phenomenon. 

Shakespeare 

news 6 

What’s shaking in the world of 

Shakespeare. 

 

 

Exclusive 

competition 19 

This unique and beautiful 

handcrafted Shakespeare swan 

is up for grabs. 

 

4 SHAKESPEARE magazine

Contents 

Once upon a time 

in the west 20 

How Bristol became a hotbed of 

 

 

Slaughtering 

Shakespeare 28 

Jessica Lange, Anthony Hopkins 

and the most shocking Shakespeare 

 

 

Beyond the 

bloodbath 32 

 

of Titus Andronicus. 

 

Bollywood 

shakes! 34 

The century-long romance of 

 

William Shakespeare. 

 

All the world’s 

a... screen 38 

Shakespeare authority 

 

 

 

Around the 

Globe in a day 42 

All in a day’s work at 

Shakespeare’s Globe. 

 


News 

SHAKESPEARE 

N ews 

“All the world’s a stage / And all the men and women merely players” 

OPENING SCENE 

Oh, Verona! 

The Arena di Verona Opera Festival: clearly the place 

to be for opera buffs with a taste for Shakespeare. 

Running from 20 June to 7 September, 

the Festival’s highlights include 

productions of Carmen, Turandot 

and 

Romeo 

and Juliet 

 

Roméo et Juliette is staged, with 

 

 

Tickets from www.arena.it or email 

biglietteria@arenadiverona.it 


News 

Strike a Pose 

Bolton school's stylish R&J is 

inspired by Madonna's 'Vogue'. 

Last month, Bolton School staged 

Romeo and 

Juliet with Zack Howarth and 

 

 

 

the concept of the battling houses of 

Montague and Capulet. 

Next up for the school’s Shakespeare 

450 celebrations is a festival presenting 

 

out too for an unpcoming production 

of Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus, 

 

 

www.boltonschool.org 

Twitter @drama_bsbd 

 

 

 

The Day The Globe Caught Fire 

Dancer Roberto 

Bolle returns to the 

 

City of London Tour Guide 

Zoe Bramley reports from the 

Shakespeare Trail. 

The first Globe theatre was situated 

a few hundred yards from today’s 

replica and was built in 1599. There’s 

some disagreement as to which play was 

first performed there – Henry V? Julius 

Caesar? But we know for sure which play was 

performed on the day it burned down. 

It was 29 June 1616. Inside the 

Globe, the groundlings – or “penny 

stinkards” – stood blinking in the afternoon 

sun, enthralled by the action on stage. The 

King’s Men were performing Henry VIII, 

Shakespeare’s latest, and the house was packed. 

As the play progressed, and Henry VIII 

entered Cardinal Wolsey’s house, a cannon 

was fired in honour of the legendary king. 

So thrilling was the spectacle that no-one 

noticed a stray spark land in the thatched 

roof. And when it began to smoulder, it was 

thought “but an idle smoak.” According to 

our eye witness Henry Wotton, the audience 

had “eyes more attentive to the show”, so “it 

kindled inwardly and ran around like a train, 

consuming within less than an hour the whole 

house to the very ground.” 

Happily, the only thing hurt was one 

man’s pride when his breeches caught fire and 

had to be extinguished with a bottle 

of beer. 

In 1989, the site of the Globe was explored 

by archaeologists from the Museum of London 

who discovered signs of charring above the 

foundations. Fire was an everyday hazard in 

the 17th Century, and thatched roofs were 

finally banned after the Great Fire of 1666 

which devoured the medieval city. Today’s 

Globe theatre is the first London building to be 

permitted a thatched roof since then. 

Twitter: @shakespearewalk 


News 

Back to school 

with Shakespeare 

Inspired by the RSC’s ‘Stand up for Shakespeare’ 

approach, teacher Helen Mears shares her essential 

Dos and Don’ts for teaching the Bard. 

DON’T speak about Shakespeare 

in hushed, reverent tones. He was 

a merchant’s son from small-town 

Stratford-upon-Avon. He didn’t go 

to university. He was educated by 

the English grammar school system. 

He was of the people and he is for 

the people. 

DON’T let your students be afraid 

of the language. Ninety-five percent 

of the words Shakespeare used are 

still in use today. The rest can be 

looked up in a good glossary or else 

gleaned from speaking them and 

looking at them in context. 

DON’T be afraid that you can 

introduce Shakespeare too early. 

Young children are used to archaicsounding 

language in the form of 

nursery rhymes and fairy tales. They 

will enjoy the rhythm and rhyme, 

particularly that of the faeries and 

witches in the plays. 

DON’T simply sit at the desks and 

read. The language is there to be 

explored. Look at punctuation, prose 

and verse, variations in the iambic 

rhythm. Think about where they are 

used and why. What do they tell us 

about the characters? 

DON’T say “I know this is boring but 

we have to”. Talk about Elizabethan 

England – the plague, bear-baiting, 

castles, stately homes. Tell them about 

the Reformation and the power 

of kings and queens. Explain why 

Shakespeare had to be so careful about 

what he wrote. 

DO see the play – a live production, 

recorded, film or television – however 

you can. Avoid those hammy Olivierera 

films. Received pronunciation 

didn’t exist in Shakespeare’s England 

and William himself would have 

spoken with a broad regional accent. 

Remember, he’s for everyone. 

DO ensure your students know and 

understand the story of the play they 

are studying. Show them the whole 

story and get them to summarise it as 

a tweet, a fairy story, a rap. Then you 

can begin to work on smaller, edited 

extracts of the text. 

DO move away from the desks. 

Shakespeare’s works are play texts, 

so treat them as plays. Say the words 

aloud, start in groups and select key 

words from the speech or scene, and 

use gesture to reinforce the meaning of 

those words. 

DO get to know the characters 

really well. Play ranking and sorting 

games – who is the most important, 

the least? Make character Facebook 

pages, explore their relationships, 

emotions and motivations. 

Characters are the heart and soul of 

every Shakespeare play. 

DO let your students find their own 

meanings. It doesn’t matter what crusty 

old critics have said, how do the plays 

resonate today? Explore the universal 

themes that drive the plays – love, hate, 

revenge, friendship, ambition. Ask your 

students what would they do in the 

same situation? 

 

www.rsc.org.uk/sufs/ 

The Shakespeare Magazine Quiz 

To celebrate the Bard's 450th birthday, our debut quiz is inspired 

by the “uncertain glory” of the month of April itself... 

1Shakespeare’s 

birthdate is 

unknown, but thought 

to be 23 April. On 

 

 

christened at Stratford- 

 

 

2 

Shakespeare also 

died on 23 April – in 

 

 

 

“Blessed be the man 

that spares these 

stones…” 

3In his will, 


 

“second-best bed” 

to his wife Anne. The 

document is also 

famous for containing 

three of the existing six 

 

4From which 


 

character, does this 

 

“O, how this spring of 

love resembleth / The 

 

 

5Shakespeare’s 

 

 

 

 

his troops with these 

 

 

 

Answers: 1) 26 April, 2) “And curst be he that moves my bones”, 3) Shakespeare’s signature, 4) The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Proteus, Act 1, Scene 3), 5) Harfleur 


News 

A dressing 

room revelation 

for the cast 

(Lili Fuller and 

Joe Sofranco, 

far right). 

Pauline (Lili 

Fuller) channels 

 

Works in Progress 

Hot new US show Complete 

Works could do for Shakespeare 

what Pitch Perfect did for acapella. 

Back in 2004, Joe Sofranco beat 16,000 

competitors to win the National Shakespeare 

Competition in New York. Ten years later, 

he has a company named Kingdom For a Horse 

Productions and he’s the writer, co-director and star 

of Complete Works, a Shakespeare-themed comedy 

launching on the Bard’s 450th birthday. 

Joe plays an aspiring, Shakespeare-obsessed actor 

named Hal, who sounds suspiciously like a younger 

version of himself. Three years in the making, 

the show is set in the surprisingly cut-throat 

world of theatre geeks and collegiate Shakespeare 

competitions. 

“This was such a labour of love,” says Executive 

Producer Lili Fuller, who also plays the character of 

Pauline. “It stemmed from our shared passion for 

theatre and Shakespeare. The three of us are theatre 

geeks, and our community is full of crazy, hilarious 

people.” 

With shades of Mean Girls and Pitch Perfect 

– not to mention cult mockumentary Waiting for 

Guffman – Complete Works just might be the TV 

comedy the Bard's fans have been waiting for. 

Complete Works is screening at 

hulu.com/complete-works 


The Hollow Crown 

British acting 

heavyweight 

Jeremy Irons 

as Henry IV. 

Game 

of 

Crowns 


The Hollow Crown 

“Shakespeare is for everyone, no 

matter your age, native language 

or level of education. We try to 

show that Shakespeare can be a 

part of pop culture” 

Hollow Crown Fans 

Twitter phenomenon 


launched the hugely 

popular Shakespeare 

Sunday onto a Bardhungry 

internet. We 

tracked down founders 

Lis and Rose for an 

illuminating chat about all 

things Shakespeare... 

 



ith disarming modesty, Lis and Rose of Hollow 

Crown Fans describe themselves as “two admins 

who are both Shakespeare enthusiasts”. They’re a 

transatlantic duo – Rose is from the UK, while Lis 

hails from the USA. They first met on Twitter during 

“the infamous Wimbledon delay” of 7 July 2012. 

This was the occasion when the BBC’s broadcast of 

The Hollow Crown: Henry IV Part 1 was held up 

by the trifling matter of a sporting event in London 

SW19. “If it hadn’t been for tennis,” they say, “we 

may have never met.” Rose also had a personal stake 

in The Hollow Crown, having appeared as an extra 

in THC: Henry V, which starred Tom Hiddleston: 

“So you could say we were very early adopters of 

the series...” 

Joe Armstrong as 

Hotspur in Henry IV 

Part 1. 



Ben Whishaw as the 

divinely decadent 

Richard II. 

How did you get interested in 

Shakespeare? 

Lis: “I come from a family that really values 

and appreciates poetry so Shakespeare was 

introduced early on. I fell in love with 

Sonnet 30 as young teenager and began 

to explore the rest of his work. I became 

interested in Shakespeare in its theatre form 

after seeing Ralph Fiennes play Hamlet on 

Broadway. That made a huge impression on 

me and I was forever drawn to Shakespeare 

productions on screen and stage thereafter.” 

Rose: “I’ve had an interest in Shakespeare 

from a very early age thanks to my parents 

and the BBC’s fantastic animated tales series 

(1992). I think what really made me fall in 

love with the language was studying Romeo 

and Juliet in school during the same year Baz 

Luhrmann’s film was released, 1996. It all 

seemed to click!” 

 

about The Hollow Crown? 

Lis: “I love the History plays and was 

keenly interested in new adaptations of 

them, especially given the dream cast across 

the tetralogy. Richard II in particular came 

“We have young students 

following us and top 

academics, actors, producers, 

media professionals, and top 

Shakespeare institutions” 


alive in a way the text never did for me upon 

reading. That’s when I realised how powerful 

Shakespeare could be, even with the perceived 

limitations of television. I’d been used to 

seeing Shakespeare on Broadway and in 

regional theatre and big films like Kenneth 

Branagh’s Henry V. The quality of these epic 

productions for the small screen drew me in.” 

Rose: “I was lucky enough to have been cast 

as an extra in The Hollow Crown: Henry V. 

I love Shakespeare and history, but it was the 

mention of Tom Hiddleston that gave me 

courage to take the plunge and give it a go. 

“As a result I was already physically and 

emotionally invested in the series from 

as early as winter 2011! It was so exciting 

following Tom Hiddleston’s tweets from the 

battlefield and beyond during the filming 

process. Some of the locations I had visited 

on holiday or were local to me, which was an 

added aspect of interest in seeing this series. 

To have been involved, be it a very small part, 

is something I shall never forget. 



“I love Shakespeare and history, but it was the 

mention of Tom Hiddleston that gave me courage to 

take the plunge and give it a go” Rose 

“Before watching THC, I must confess the 

history plays never appealed to me, I much 

preferred the comedies and tragedies! The 

Hollow Crown opened my eyes to these plays 

and beyond. The fantastic casting did much to 

hook me initially, along with visual feast of the 

costumes and film locations used.” 

What made you take to Twitter, 

and can you describe how your 

following grew? 

HCF: “We started out to promote a petition 

to the BBC to release a commemorative book 

of photographs that were taken during the 

filming of The Hollow Crown. Initially we 

tried to create interesting content so people 

would follow us and therefore sign the 

petition. Since then our scope has changed 

to reinforce our core beliefs that Shakespeare 

is for everyone, no matter your age, native 

language or level of education. We try to 

show, on a daily basis, that Shakespeare can 

be a part of pop culture. 

“As we’ve introduced art and writing 

contests, interactive activities, promoting 

news about the cast and Shakespeare, and of 

course #ShakespeareSunday we’ve steadily 

grown in numbers but also in the diversity 



Tom Hiddleston as 

Henry V (left) and 

David Morrissey as 

Northumberland 

(above). 

of our followers. We have young students 

following us and top academics, actors, 

producers, media professionals, and top 

Shakespeare institutions. We’re proud of 

our diversity but also with how engaged our 

followers are with us every day.” 

How did you come up with the 

idea for the phenomenally popular 

#ShakespeareSunday? 

HCF: “We loved quoting scenes from The 

Hollow Crown and we’d periodically ask 

“what’s your favorite quote from...” Then one 

Sunday in October 2012, we thought we’d 

expand that activity and give the hashtag 

#ShakespeareSunday a try and see if people 

liked it. The response to it has been nothing 

short of incredible.” 

Can you share some of your 

favourite moments, tweets or 

stories from Hollow Crown Fans 

around the world? 

HCF: “Favourite moments tend to centre 

around the activities we’ve done with the 

community. We ran an art contest in 2012 

and it was amazing to see the work of so 

many talented artists coming in. We did a 

Cento Poetry competition that was judged 

by The Shakespeare Institute, and again the 

creativity of our followers was inspiring. 

“Probably the greatest tweet was from 

James Purefoy, who played Mowbray in 

Richard II. He had tweeted he was on a 

transatlantic flight and so we asked him to 

quote some Shakespeare from the air and he 

responded with one from The Tempest: ‘The 

cloud-capp’d tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces, The 

solemn temples, the great globe itself...’ which 

was simply perfect in context.” 

“Undeniably one of our favourite 



moments came from a PBS interview Tom 

Hiddleston did where he spent time talking 

about our account and #ShakespeareSunday. 

Getting support from the star of the series, as 

well as a prominent television network like 

PBS, is a great feeling.” 

Was The Hollow Crown 

responsible for the rise of 

Tom Hiddleston – or was Tom 

Hiddleston responsible for the 

success of The Hollow Crown? 

HCF: “Tom Hiddleston was already making 

waves as Loki in the Marvel films, but 

perhaps The Hollow Crown showed a mass 

audience how adept he is at performing and 

leading an audience through Shakespeare. 

The Hollow Crown had a tremendous cast 

of new talent as well as legends – it would 

be a mistake to chalk up the success of The 

Hollow Crown to any one actor. To be frank, 

David Dawson as 

Poins (left) with Tom 

Hiddleston’s Hal. 

Shakespeare is what made it successful. We 

track mentions on Twitter and Shakespeare 

outruns mentions of any of the actors by 10- 

20 times the rate!” 

Apart from the obvious big names, 

who are some of your favourite 

characters and actors from The 

Hollow Crown? 

Lis: “The supporting actor that really 

stood out for me was David Morrissey as 

Northumberland in Richard II. I can only 

describe him as completely badass. His role 

and lines were appropriate for the historical 

setting Shakespeare wrote for, but David 

made the political role modern and fresh with 

the right balance of edginess and gravitas. 

“As for favourite character, I really enjoyed 

how David Dawson brought Poins to life. I 

thought he and Tom Hiddleston had great 

chemistry together and provided a lot of 

levity that stood up well against the wellknown 

humour between Hal and Falstaff. 

They made me want to head off to Boar’s 

Head Tavern for a few cups of sack!” 

Rose: “Two names I have to mention 

here. Firstly, Edward Akrout – the ‘dashing’ 

Dauphin in Henry V. He gave a wonderful 

performance in a role that was rather edited 

down from the original version of the play. I 

felt he gave the Dauphin more than just the 

‘bad guy’ image one would originally expect 

in the role – and by the end might dare to 

confess even feeling some sympathy it hadn’t 

gone to plan at Agincourt! 

“Joe Armstrong as Harry Percy (Hotspur) 

in Henry IV Part 1 was another key favourite 

character and actor in the series. I had long 

been a fan of his father, Alun Armstrong, and 

was delighted that they were cast as father and 

son in The Hollow Crown! 

“Not only did they naturally work 

“The supporting actor that really stood out for me was 

David Morrissey as Northumberland in Richard II. 

I can only describe him as completely badass” Lis 



Edward Akrout cuts a dash 

as the Dauphin. 

brilliantly together, but Joe matched up to the 

likes of Jeremy Irons, Tom Hiddleston and 

Michelle Dockery fantastically. By the end of 

this episode you were half torn with sadness 

that the light Joe shone to this character was 

extinguished by Prince Hal.” 

What are your thoughts on 

Hollow Crown 2? 

Lis: “I could not be more excited - and 

still a bit shocked - that a second series was 

announced, as the first series was reportedly 

disappointing in ratings. But I’m ecstatic that 

once again the BBC will bring lesser-known 

plays to the small screen, and ideally find 

that balance between making it appealing 

to the masses and detailed enough for the 

already converted. The casting of Benedict 

Cumberbatch in Richard III seems to indicate 

that’s the approach they plan to take.” 

Rose: “I am still in a complete state of 

happiness that there is a second series! We 

knew how much the first was loved by people 

and, thanks to the internet, how global this 

was. But realistically, the viewing figures in 

2012 were not as high as we had hoped, let 

alone the BBC’s expectations. 

“When The White Queen aired on the 

BBC earlier this year, we had fun pairing up 

quotes from Henry VI and Richard III to 

various images, and discussed how much we 

wished THC could have had a second series! 

“Philippa Gregory’s novels, along with the 

recent discovery of Richard III’s body, have 

brought this period of history more into the 

public eye and shown there is a wide interest 

and demand for this material. 

“The War of the Roses accompanied with 

Shakespeare during the 450th anniversary of 

his birth seems the perfect combination right 

now and we expect only great things from 

The Hollow Crown series 2!” 

 

Find Hollow Crown Fans on Twitter: 

@HollowCrownFans 


Win 

EXCLUSIVE COMPETITION 

To celebrate the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth on 

23 April 1564, we have commissioned this beautiful and entirely 

original ceramic work from artist Hannah Tribe. 

Titled ‘Sweet Swan of Avon’, it will make a uniquely perfect 

centrepiece to the writing desk of any Shakespeare fan. 

Photo: David Hammonds 

To be in with a chance of winning our lovely swan, simply send an email to 

shakespearemag@outlook.com with ‘Swan Comp’ in the subject line. 

Don’t forget to include your name, address, postcode and contact number. 

We will accept entries from outside the UK, but please be sure to include full 

contact details. 

The closing date for this competition is Monday 26 May 

– and may fortune favour you! 

“This sculpture combines references to characters from 

Shakespeare’s life, both real and imagined” 


Shakespeare city: Bristol 

ONCE UPON A 

TIME IN THE WEST 


Shakespeare city: Bristol 

Main image: Clifton 

Suspension Bridge is 

Bristol’s most iconic 

landmark. 

Right: Shakespeare 

Inn, Victoria Street. 

Local poet and 

playwright 

Tom Phillips 

takes us on a 

Shakespeare- 

 

tour of the city 

of Bristol. 

 



“Peter O’Toole’s 1955 performance 

as Hamlet at Bristol Old Vic is the 

stuff of legend” 

Photos: Alan Moore, Gavin Roberts 

The Shakespeare 

pub, Redland. 



Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory’s 2000 

production of King Lear: Roland Oliver as Lear 

(below) and Paul Nicholson as the Fool (below, right). 

Amuch-loved, but often-overlooked city 

in the South-West of England, Bristol 

makes no claims to have any particular 

connection with the living, breathing 

William Shakespeare. There are a few 

passing mentions of the city in Henry IV pts 1 & 2 

and Richard II – mostly in connection with troop 

movements and ‘the caterpillars of the commonwealth’ 

who rebel against the monarchy – but it wasn’t a 

particularly prominent feature on Shakespeare’s 

imaginary map of England. 

The playwright’s posthumous presence, 

however, looms large. Maybe that’s because, 

having passed through Stratford, the river 

Avon snakes through the city, runs under 

Clifton Suspension Bridge and out to the 

Bristol Channel. You might say, in fact, that 

the river plugs the city into the Shakespearean 

heartland. 

A rather less fanciful explanation, perhaps, 

is that Bristol has a long and eminent 

theatre tradition and, not surprisingly, 

productions of Shakespeare’s plays have been 

a prominent part of that. Peter O’Toole’s 

1955 performance as Hamlet at Bristol Old 

Vic is the stuff of legend while the same 

theatre’s 1997 production of Macbeth with 

Pete Postlethwaite as the eponymous Scottish 

king saw the professional stage debut of one 

Chiwetel Ejiofor (as Malcolm). 

More recently, the city has also gained an 

annual Bristol Shakespeare Festival – with 

many a production staged outdoors or in 

unlikely venues – and the simultaneously 

acclaimed and popular Shakespeare at the 

Tobacco Factory. 

The brainchild of Bristol-based director 

Andrew Hilton, the latter began life a few 

weeks after the millennium, when it opened 

with King Lear. On the face of it, it was 

absurdly ambitious: a full-cast production of 

the bleakest tragedy staged in a rough-andready 

space on the first floor of a stripped-out 

factory building in what was then a fairly 

rundown part of south Bristol. 

On press night, not more than a dozen 

people showed up. Only two of us were 

journalists. Of the rest, at least three or more 

members of the audience appeared to have 

wandered into the place by accident and had 

only stayed because it was marginally warmer 

than the street outside. We spread ourselves 

out in the auditorium in a desperate attempt 



to make it look full. Then the play started. 

From the outset, it was obvious that this 

was no ordinary production. Lines which had 

been dunned into me in A-level English until 

they’d lost all their poetry were leaping off 

the page as if nobody had ever spoken them 

before. 

Even relatively minor characters were 

emerging as fully rounded individuals with a 

life which went way beyond their usefulness 

as plot devices. Without a hint of gimmickry, 

without any attempt to be trendily cutting 

edge by, say, relocating the entire play to a 

supermarket in war-torn Bosnia, this was a 

production which put its trust in the text and 

mined it for every nuance, every ambiguity. 

The result was extraordinary. By the time 

Lear was railing against Cordelia’s ingratitude, 

even the people who’d not really meant to 

come and see a Shakespeare play at all were 

sitting bolt upright. By the time of the king’s 

expulsion onto the heath, they were on the 

edge of their seats. Even the sword fight 

between Edgar and Edmund looked as if it 

might go either way. 

That same week, apparently, Hilton 

Great British 


venue: Tobacco 

Factory. 

“Even the sword fight between Edgar and 

Edmund looked as if it might go either way” 

considered pulling the plug on the whole 

venture. The company was operating on the 

narrowest of margins and ticket sales were 

appalling. It seemed that Bristol didn’t have 

an appetite for yet more Shakespeare after all. 

Thankfully, he didn’t – because, as word 

began to spread and reviews began to appear, 

the city woke up to the fact that something 

unique was going on and by the last week of 

the month-long run you couldn’t get a ticket 

for love nor money. The production of A 

Midsummer Night’s Dream which followed 

ploughed the same back-to-basics furrow and 

fared equally well. 

More than aware that too early an 

exposure to Shakespeare can lead to a lifelong 

aversion, I took my six-year-old daughter to 

see it. She spent most of the in-the-round 

performance lying full-length on the very 

edge of the ‘stage’, enthralled by the antics of 

Puck, Bottom, Helena and Hermia. While 

we were walking home, she announced that 

she wanted to be an actress. Fifteen years 

later, she’s about to graduate with a degree in 

performing arts. 

Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, 

meanwhile, have gone from strength to 

strength. Aside from an ill-fated production 

of Titus Andronicus which nearly bankrupted 

the company, they’ve enjoyed unparalleled 

success, earned themselves a reputation as 

a sort of West Country-based RSC and 

given dozens of young actors a leg-up in the 

perilous early stages of their career, most 

recently with their second take on As You 

Like It. What’s more, while they might not 

have kickstarted the regeneration of south 

Bristol, their popularity hasn’t done anything 

to harm it. 

Exactly how finely honed productions of 

Shakespeare might benefit a neighbourhood’s 

local economy is a question that’s yet to 

be answered, but it certainly feels as if 

there’s some kind of connection between 

renegotiating Hamlet’s soliloquies and the 



“The city’s longest-running pub is, of course, called 

The Shakespeare Tavern, having opened in 1777” 

reinvigoration of the local high street. 

Walk down Prince Street towards Bristol 

docks, meanwhile, and you’ll come across the 

city’s longest-running pub. It is, of course, 

called The Shakespeare Tavern and, having 

opened in 1777, it reputedly took its name 

because Shakespeare was very much on the 

menu at the nearby Theatre Royal (i.e. Bristol 

Old Vic). In here, last summer, you might 

have encountered an ad-hoc pub performance 

for Bristol Shakespeare Festival. Over the bar, 

you might also have noticed a quotation from 

Merry Wives of Windsor. 

In here too you might also have spotted 

someone sitting at a long wooden table with 

a copy of the Sonnets open beside his pint 

of Guinness. That was me preparing for 

another typically quirky BSF performance: 

Shakespeare Sonnet Russian Roulette, in 

which audience members shout out numbers 

from one to 154 and I do sight-read requests. 

I don’t think I’ve ever been more terrified 

in my life, but it’s a mark of the poetry’s 

greatness that its meaning is there, ready and 

waiting – no matter who reads it. All you 

have to do is look. 

 

Roland Oliver 

as Bottom in A 

Midsummer Night’s 

Dream (Tobacco 

Factory, 2000). 

Could you write a Shakespeare Guide to your 

favourite city? Get in touch: 

shakespearemag@outlook.com 

Shakespeare Tavern, 

Prince Street. 


Titus Andronicus 

Saturninus 

(Alan Cumming) 

oversees his evil 

empire in Titus. 


Titus Andronicus 

She wound up doing The Lion King and Spider-Man on Broadway. But 15 years 

 

Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. Here’s what Robin Askew reckoned at the time... 

Titus (18) 

USA 1999 /162 minutes 

Director: Julie Taymor 

Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, 

Alan Cumming, Harry Lennix, Colm Feore, 

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Angus Macfadyen, 

Laura Fraser 

It’ll be too baroque, violent 

and – whisper it! – funny 

for those who prefer their 

Shakespeare luvvie-cosy, 

but Julie Taymor’s brave, 

visually stunning re-imagining of 

this little-known vengeance yarn 

is an absolute vindication of her 

contention that it’s an overlooked 

masterpiece brimming with 

contemporary resonance – and a 

real treat for those who prefer the 

Bard’s earlier, gorier ones. 

Much has been written about the way 

our appreciation of Shakespeare in general, 

and Titus Andronicus in particular, is viewed 

through the prism of Victorian criticism, with 

all its attendant moral baggage. The brilliance 

of Taymor’s version is that it recaptures the 

spirit of old Bill’s biggest crowd-pleaser, 

which entails the increasingly unpleasant 

deaths of virtually all of its principals in a 

cycle of vengeance that redeems nobody, with 

an ugly side-order of sexual abuse, racism and 

religiously inspired atrocity. 

 



How 

Bull-headed and 

borderline insane: 

Anthony Hopkins 

as Titus. 

much more modern relevance do you 

want? Anthony Hopkins, on top form, is 

the eponymous granite-hewn, bull-headed 

warrior who returns to Rome in triumph after 

an extended bout of blood-letting, bearing 

Tamora, Queen of the Goths (Lange), her 

three sons and “barbarous Moor” Aaron 

(Lennix) as his prisoners. 

Religious tradition requires a sacrifice, so 

the eldest son gets to be torn limb from limb, 

his giblets sizzled over an open fire, earning 

Titus the undying enmity of the warrior 

queen. But his first mistake is in pledging 

fealty to weak and effete new emperor 

Saturninus (Cumming), who promptly falls 

for the exotic and cunning Tamora, giving her 

a position of power from which to unleash 

the tit-for-tat revenge that will continue until 

the climactic time-slice freeze-frame. 

Taymor performs wonders in conjuring 

such a sumptuous visual feast on a relatively 

“Shakespeare had a keen appreciation of comic horror 

long before the era of The Evil Dead” 


“Old Bill’s biggest crowd-pleaser entails the 

increasingly unpleasant deaths of virtually 

all of its principals” 


“Exotic and cunning” 

Tamora, played with 

sadistic relish by 

Jessica Lange. 

low budget. From the tremendous, superbly 

choreographed opening tableau of an army 

of warriors performing a victory ritual in the 

Coliseum, the film mixes and matches the 

iconography of Ancient Rome, ’30s Italian 

fascism and beyond, with every aspect of 

the production design and music carefully 

thought through, demanding repeated 

viewing to appreciate its myriad subtleties. 

The violence which is so central to the 

story is also explicit only when necessary. 

No censor would risk the ridicule of cutting 

Shakespeare, but nor can one imagine them 

permitting the gleeful rape and mutilation 

endured by Titus’s virginal daughter Lavinia 

in any other film. 

Taymor shows us only what we need to 

see, but it’s no less horrific for that. Better yet, 

she restores the play’s oft-excised funny lines, 

which reveal that Shakespeare had a keen 

appreciation of comic horror long before the 

era of The Evil Dead. 

The performances are uniformly 

magnificent, many of the characters 

prefiguring in unvarnished form the Bard’s 

more famous creations (Titus/Lear, Tamora/ 

Lady Macbeth, Aaron/Iago), with Harry 

Lennix’s unrepentant Aaron – Shakespeare’s 

most overt treatment of race, fact fans – 

almost stealing it from Hopkins’ borderline 

insane Titus. 

 

This review originally appeared in 

Venue Magazine. 



Beyond 

the 

bloodbath 

Traditionally viewed as the 

ultimate victim, Lavinia is the 

Titus Andronicus, 

writes Emma Gutteridge. 

S 

2 

hakespeare’s earliest and bloodiest tragedy, Titus 

Andronicus boasts a dizzying body count. With 

14 deaths by the final curtain, not even Hamlet 

(nine deaths) and King Lear (ten) come close. But 

the deaths themselves aren’t the most shocking 

component of this still-disturbing play. 

In the second act, Lavinia, daughter of Titus, is brutally raped by 

Chiron and Demetrius, sons of the vengeful Queen Tamora. Worse 

still, to prevent her from revealing their identities, the brothers viciously 

cut out Lavinia’s tongue and hack off her hands. If you have a strong 

stomach, try a Google image search for ‘Lavinia in Titus Andronicus’ 

and then stare open-mouthed at the ensuing gallery of horrors. But 

Lavinia is more than a mere emblem of victimhood. Her mutilated, 

blood-drenched body conceals astonishing reserves of strength. Lavinia 

is, in fact, the nearest thing to a hero in Titus Andronicus... 



She’s a rebel 

Status-conscious Titus elects 1Saturninus 

as Emperor of Rome, giving him both his 

daughter and his war prisoners to show 

support. But seemingly subservient Lavinia 

scuppers his plan by eloping with Bassianus, 

the man she truly loves. Lavinia’s defiant act 

of rebellion has calamitous consequences. Her 

father’s reputation is damaged, as is his trust 

in her. Her actions also inadvertently cause 

the death of her brother Mutius, a fate which 

could have been avoided. And Saturninus, 

denied the chance to marry Lavinia, falls 

for Tamora instead, providing Rome’s new 

Empress with enough power to destroy the 

Andronicus family. 

She takes on Tamora 

Before her brutal silencing, Lavinia is vocal 

in insulting Saturninus or confirming her 

love for Bassianus. But the bulk of Lavinia’s 

words are expended in a battle of wits with 

the formidable Tamora, Queen of the Goths. 

Discovering Tamora’s affair with Aaron, 

morally righteous Lavinia furiously condemns 

the Goth Queen’s adultery. Even after her 

husband Bassianus is murdered, Lavinia’s 

verbal assault rages unabated. This clearly is 

a woman who speaks her mind whatever the 

consequences. 

She has unbelievable resilience 

Until her death in Act 5, Lavinia remains 

a near-constant presence on the stage. 

Spending three acts dumb and without hands 

is, of course, a major challenge 3for any actress 

playing the role. In the Royal Shakespeare 

Company’s 2013 production Rose Reynolds 

scrounged a mouthful of boiled egg after 

Photo: Graham Burke 

A blood-drenched 

Catherine 

Hamilton as 

Lavinia (The 

Tobacco Factory, 

Bristol, 2006) 

defiantly crushing it with her stump. “She 

innately possesses an inner strength and 

power,” Reynolds says. 

She never forgets who she is 

In one of the play’s most unforgettable scenes, 

Lavinia finds 4a way to bring retribution 

to the Goth Princes. Shakespeare depicts 

Lavinia chasing her young nephew who 

holds the books she needs to ‘speak’ to her 

family. She scrabbles with the pages until 

‘The Tale of Philomela’ is open (in fact, the 

story her tragedy was based upon). Lavinia’s 

desperation to have a ‘voice’ is brilliantly 

manifested in the 1985 BBC production, 

where Anna Calder-Marshall frantically turns 

the pages with her teeth. 

She’s the bravest character 

in the play 

Surviving the physical and mental wounds 

of her ordeal, while grieving for her husband 

and brothers, Lavinia displays more courage 

than any of the play’s male characters. 

Ultimately she even brings retribution to 

her assailants, Chiron and Demetrius – by 

scraping words in sand with a staff held 

in her mouth. Lavinia’s 5final moments are 

spent in her father’s arms, but their loving 

reconciliation is heart-rendingly brief, as Titus 

is honour-bound to end his daughter’s life. 

Read the full unedited version of this article on 

our Facebook page 

“Try a Google image search for ‘Lavinia in Titus 

Andronicus’ and then stare open-mouthed at the 

ensuing gallery of horrors” 


Bollywood 

Amazingly, the love affair between England’s 

greatest wordsmith and the world’s biggest 

 

 

 

BOLLYWOOD 

SHAKES! 

W 

hen we think of Shakespeare 

in Bollywood we think of 

adaptations such as Angoor 

[Grapes] (1982), Qayamat Se 

Qayamat Tak [From Doom to 

Doom] (1988), Maqbool (2003) and Omkara 

(2006). We might add to the list Shakespeare-themed 

movies such as Shakespeare Wallah (1965) or The 

Last Lear (2007). The Bard, however, is embedded 

in the very dialogue and imagery of Bollywood. 

This was true right from its inception due 

to the roots of Hindi cinema in the Parsi 

theatre tradition which freely borrowed from 

European, Persian and Sanskrit sources. 

After the 1950s, the Bengali literary tradition 

resulted in several faithful translations 

and adaptations of Shakespeare, which, 

in conjunction with the inspiration of 

Hollywood Shakespeare films, has led to 

more complex adaptations of Shakespeare in 

Bollywood in recent years. 

 

 

Naseeruddin Shah, a veteran Bollywood 

actor who has played Shakespeare on stage 

and on screen claimed: “The roots may look 

lost but every big story in the Hindi film 

industry is from Shakespeare.” This may be an 

oversimplification, but Bollywood not only 

abounds in sly and unexpected references to 

popular Shakespeare dialogues and characters, 

but in common themes and devices such 

as twins separated at birth, cross-dressing 

characters, star-crossed lovers, characters 

falling in love with messengers, the wise fool, 

the tamed Shrew and the mousetrap device. 

 

 

Several early Shakespearean adaptations 

in Bollywood were copies of Hollywood 

adaptations such as Kishore Sahu’s 1954 

Hamlet, which was a shot-by-shot imitation 

of Olivier’s 1948 Hamlet. The 1947 Romeo 

and Juliet starring Nargis as Juliet was a 

copy of the Hollywood version with Norma 

Shearer. In recent years, the Rani Mukherjee 


Bollywood 

“The 1947 

Romeo and 

Juliet starring 

Nargis as Juliet 

was a copy of 

the Hollywood 

version 

with Norma 

Shearer” 

starrer Dil Bole Hadippa! (2009) was a 

loose copy of She’s the Man (2006), based 

on Twelfth Night. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 

Ram Leela (2013) also owes more to Baz 

Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) than to 

Shakespeare. 

 

 

The most popular plays in Bollywood are 

Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, 

The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of 

Venice and Hamlet. Taking one example 

alone, there are three versions of Hamlet in 

the Parsi theatre tradition: Dada Athawale’s 

Hamlet or Khoon-e-Nahak [The Unjust 

Assassination] (1928), Sohrab Modi’s Khoonka-Khoon 

[Blood for Blood] or Hamlet 

(1935) and Kishore Sahu’s 1954 Hamlet. 

Eklavya (2007), the upcoming untitled film 

by gay rights activist film maker Onir, the 

in-production Haider by Vishal Bhardwaj, 

as well as another planned adaptation to 

be directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia starring 

Hrithik Roshan, are also based on Hamlet. 

 

The first Shakespearean adaptation on the 

Hindi film screen was Savkari Pash (1925) 

directed by Baburao Painter based on The 

Merchant of Venice. A social melodrama in 

the realist tradition, the film dealt with money 

lending – a problem that ruined countless 

poor, illiterate farmers. The audience, more 

accustomed to escapist mythological fantasies 

and historical love stories, did not appreciate 

the strong dose of realism and the film did 

not do well. However, the shot of a dreary hut 

accompanied by a howling dog is regarded 

as one of the most memorable moments of 

Indian cinema. 

The 

Comedy of Errors is Indian 

With a massive Bollywood audience hungry 

for laughs, it’s no surprise that India has 

made more film adaptations of The Comedy 

of Errors than any other country. There are 

three from Hong Kong, just two from the 


Bollywood 

USA and one each from Russia and Mexico. 

In contrast, there are six known Indian film 

adaptations of this play and three more in 

production. Of these, Angoor (1982) is the 

best known, both in India and in the world. 

It was also one of the first Shakespearean 

adaptations in India to be transposed on to a 

modern Indian setting. 

 

Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), now one 

of the best known adaptations of Romeo and 

Juliet in Bollywood, was originally scripted 

with a happy ending. Nasir Hussain, who 

wrote the basic story of QSQT, thought that 

Bollywood audiences would refuse to accept a 

sad ending, especially in a love story. However, 

Mansoor Khan, Nasir’s son and first-time 

director, felt very strongly about an ending 

where the lovers die and thought that giving 

them a happy ending would ruin the integrity 

of the story. He managed to convince his father 

and an alternate tragic ending was shot. The 

film ended up being a superhit. 

 

The Mousetrap Device, or the play-withinthe-play, 

helps Hamlet test the Ghost’s 

accusation against Claudius. Karz (1980) 

and its remake Om Shanti Om (2007) deal 

with a popular Bollywood theme – rebirth. 

Instead of the ghost, it is the protagonist who 

is killed in these two films, who later returns 

and uses the Mousetrap Device to ‘catch the 

conscience’ of the killer. The Shakespearean 

influence in these two commercially popular 

Don’t worry, it 

all ends badly for 

Bollywood’s starcrossed 

lovers. 

films is completely unacknowledged but the 

Hamletian echoes are obvious to anyone 

familiar with the play – or the several 

adaptations of Hamlet in Bollywood. 

 

 

Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, Maqbool 

(Macbeth, 2004) and Omkara (Othello, 

2006) have achieved critical and commercial 

success internationally. Bhardwaj is the first 

Indian filmmaker to attempt a Shakespearean 

Trilogy, following in the footsteps of 

Lawrence Olivier, Orson Welles, Kenneth 

Branagh, Gregory Kozintsev and Akira 

Kurosawa. His Haider (Hamlet) is in its final 

stages of production. 

 

 

There were several detailed translations of 

Shakespeare in Hindi prose since the first 

adaptation of The Merchant of Venice by 

Bharatendu Harishchandra in 1880 titled 

Durlabh Bandhu. These adaptations, other 

than Indianising the names of people or 

places, faithfully follow the original text 

and were meant for reading rather than 

presentation on stage. Dr. Harivansh Rai 

Bachhan was the first to translate Macbeth 

and Othello in verse in Hindi (in 1956 and 

1958 respectively). Dr. Bachan’s son Amitabh 

of course became the greatest of all Indian 

screen superstars. 

 

 

 

Shakespeare has seeped into the very idiom 

of Bollywood and we can find references to it 

in unexpected places. In Deewar [The Wall] 

(1975) for instance, the mother disapproves 

of her son’s nefarious doings and tells him 

that “all the water in the world cannot wash 

your hands clean of your sins”. The popular 

comedic villain Ajit invokes Shakespeare 

while getting rid of his victim in one movie, 

instructing his henchman: “Give him the 

Hamlet poison, he’ll continue to be lost in a 

haze of to be or not to be!” 


Interview: James Shapiro 

Photo: Mary Cregan 

All the 

World ’s a... 

Screen 

As well as being an authority 

on Shakespeare, James Shapiro 

 

 

 

 


“I 

cast my lot with those 

who think that if 

Shakespeare were 

around today he’d be 

making movies. It’s an 

art form that would have suited his 

gifts – and his desire to reach a huge 

audience –perfectly. 

“The first film I remember seeing was 

Laurence of Arabia. I was seven in 1962 

when my parents took my brother, sister and 

I. The thrill of seeing a widescreen film in a 

dark moviehouse is fixed in my memory. 

“It’s a rare day when I don’t see a film, 

or part of one – though given my crazed 

schedule, more often than not on video. I 

find it to be the most absorbing art form out 

there and endlessly surprising – and I try to 

draw on its lessons when writing my books. 

“When I wrote 1599, for example, I tried 

to imagine the opening scene in which a 

theatre is hurriedly dismantled and moved 

across the Thames on a wintry December day 

as the basis for a film script.” 

Interview: James Shapiro 

Bradley Cooper 

harangues Jennifer 

Lawrence in Silver 

Linings Playbook. 

Silver Linings Playbook 

“I love romantic comedy but hate romantic 

comedies. The jokes are never funny enough 

and the comic timing is always slightly off. I 

even feel this way about Shakespeare’s Twelfth 

Night. So it wasn’t until a third friend told 

me that I had to see Silver Linings Playbook 

that I finally gave in. 

“I loved this movie. Not because of the 

“I loved Silver Linings 

Playbook because its timing 

was absolutely perfect. Every 

joke worked. Every scene set 

up the next” 

amazing chemistry of Bradley Cooper and 

Jennifer Lawrence, or because De Niro came 

close to stealing the show, but because its 

timing was absolutely perfect. Every joke 

worked. Every scene set up the next. It was 

like experiencing a perfect downhill run on 

skis. I left drained and very happy.” 

Lore 

“I was in London recently and dropped by 

the Renoir, my favourite movie house in the 

world, where Lore was playing. I had never 

heard of the film but thought I’d take a 

chance. 

“I’ve seen or read scores of films and 

books about the Holocaust and anti-Semitism 

(and even wrote one about Oberammergau 

and its Passion Play, which Hitler so loved) 


Interview: James Shapiro 

An acclaimed 

performance by 

Saskia Rosendahl 

in Lore. 

but I’ve never seen a work that captured so 

powerfully what happens when ideology and 

reality collide. 

“Lore’s struggle to reconcile what she 

feels with what she has been taught to believe 

– perfectly rendered by Saskia Rosendahl – 

continues to haunt me.” 

Man on Fire 

“For sheer visceral pleasure, my all-time 

favourite film is Man on Fire, starring Denzel 

Washington. Some films hit you in the gut, 

some in the heart, some in the head. This 

thriller gets you in the gut. 

“I’ve probably watched it 20 times since 

it first came out in 2004 and never tire of 

viewing it. As someone who teaches and 

writes about Hamlet and revenge plays, 

Still burning: 

Denzel 

Washington in 

Man on Fire. 

I’m fascinated by what makes for a perfect 

revenge story. The best revenge is both 

mimetic and belated – in other words, an 

avenger needs to take his time and inflict 

just the right punishment on those who have 

done wrong. 

“The director of Man on Fire, Tony Scott, 

understands the mechanics of the revenge 

plot perfectly. Denzel Washington has done 

a lot of good work, but his performance as 

Creasy, a burned-out former CIA agentturned-bodyguard, 

is just amazing. 

“I also love Christopher Walken’s cameo. 

Just thinking about this film makes me want 

to watch it again.” 

Paisan 

“Flipping through the movie channels the 

other night I came upon a film I had never 

heard of but will now return to: Roberto 

Rosselli’s 1946 black-and-white masterpiece 

Paisan, the closest thing to a great short-story 

collection on film. 

“I wondered how I had gone through life 

without having heard of, let alone seen, such 

a brilliant work, one that made me feel, as 

no other art form ever has, what it was like 

to have lived through the final and terrifying 

months of the Second World War in Italy.” 

A Columbia University professor, 

James Shapiro is the author of 1599: A Year 

in the Life of William Shakespeare and 

Contested Will: who wrote Shakespeare? 

and editor of Shakespeare in America. 

More from: www.jamesshapiro.net 

Parts of this interview originally appeared in 

Cineworld Magazine. 


Diary: Brooke Thomas 

Working at Shakespeare’s Globe is a dream job 

for countless Bard fans – but what’s it really like 

behind that hallowed stage? Brooke Thomas 

reveals all in her Diary of a Globe Researcher 

Around the 

Globe in a day 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

round t 

 

 

 


Diary: Brooke Thomas 

This isn’t the best 

picture of the Globe, 

but it’s what I see as I 

walk across the river to 

work, and I don’t mind 

admitting that even six 

months into my time at 

Globe Education, this 

sight still makes me feel 

like a kid in candy shop. 

Bottom’s not bad company, 

but he keeps going on 

about how he can do my 

job better than I can. 

he Glob 

Here I am with Bottom working on an Antony and 

Cleopatra research document in the library. We try to 

use original sources as much as possible. This isn’t only 

a reliable way to research our productions, but has the 

added benefit of involving early modern woodcuttings, 

which are hilarious 80% of the time. 


Diary: Brooke Thomas 

Every day, or more accurately, when we 

remember, a member of the team adds 

a favourite quote to this whiteboard 

in the library. We try to tie it in with 

whatever’s currently on in the theatres, 

but mostly it’s a bit of fun. There’s 

a slight ‘who can think of the most 

obscure, but still poignant, Shakespeare 

quote’ competitive thing going on, but 

that’s to be expected in this hive of 

Shakespeare enthusiasts. 

I’m not sure whether this one 

wins or breaks the rules by 

not technically being a quote. 

Hmmm. 

I’m particularly fond 

of this quote from The 

Tempest, they’re not just 

using me as an extra 

whiteboard. 

My second favourite place at the Globe is the 

green room. Sadly there were no matinée actors 

around, and everyone else must’ve been out 

enjoying the sunshine, so I had a nice quiet lunch 

with Sam. 

You can always hear what’s going on in 

the theatres next door while you’re in the green 

room, it’s one of the reasons I spend so much time 

lobe in 

working in there. You hear the cheers, laughter, 

and groans of the audience, and even if there’s 

no show on there’ll musicians rehearsing, or 

actors, or you might catch the tail end of a tour. 

Of course, some days, like this day, all you 

hear are the saws and drills of set builders. 

Ah well, it can’t always poetry and lutes. 


Diary: Brooke Thomas 

I’ve only been in my favourite place in the building once, but 

it still beats the green room, the library, and the theatres hands 

down for me. Stepping into the tiring house at Shakespeare’s 

Globe feels like walking into a cathedral. It’s just a small, dark 

space, just a room, but there’s something about the smell of warm 

wood and the sunlight filtering through the grates that inspires 

awe-filled silence. There’s nothing quite like the excitement and 

apprehension that you feel when those doors open inwards, light 

floods the sanctuary of the tiring house, and you see the ‘wooden 

o’ from the actor’s point of view. 

Shakespeare’s 

Globe 

The Globe theatre, and the new 

Jacobean playhouse next door, are 

the vision of American actor and 

director Sam Wanamaker. Sam worked 

tirelessly from 1970 until his death in 

1993 to bring Shakespeare’s theatre 

back to London. The third and current 

incarnation of Shakespeare’s Globe 

opened on London’s Bankside in 

1997, just a street closer to the river 

 

Globe was opened in 1599 by the 

Lord Chamberlain’s Men. It hosted 

 

Shakespeare’s greatest works, including 

Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear. 

Fun fact: the sofas in our green room are 

comically oversized. They’re on a platform 

and they’re twice as deep as any sofa I’ve 

ever seen. 

This is technically to accommodate 

the huge costumes our actors wear, but it’s 

also good for curling up with a cup of tea 

and definitely not falling asleep because 

it’s so comfortable. Never. Not even once. 

Certainly not on a regular basis. 

a day 

 

 

A breath of fresh 

air overlooking 

the river Thames 

on the roof 

terrace. 


Contributors 

Brooke Thomas is a post-graduate 

student of Shakespeare in her early 

twenties. She learnt to love the Bard 

during her BA at Royal Holloway, 

University of London, and is 

currently a researcher at Shakespeare’s 

Globe. Brooke also writes fiction and 

hosts a short story competition called 

#SmallTales on Twitter. Her days off 

consist of tea, cake, and Doctor Who. 

You can find her at 

www.literarygeek.co.uk 

Emma Gutteridge Originally from 

Cambridgeshire, Emma is graduating 

from Winchester University this year 

with a degree in Drama. She will be 

attending Drama Studio London in the 

new academic year to study Professional 

Acting. Her love of Shakespeare stems 

from her involvement in a production 

of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at 

school, and she has since performed in 

four Shakespeare plays. Most recently 

she played Laertes/Guildenstern 

in Hamlet with Winchester-based 

Platform 4. 

Tom Phillips is a poet and 

playwright living in Bristol. His 

work includes the poetry collection 

Recreation Ground (Two Rivers 

Press, 2012) and the plays 100 Miles 

North of Timbuktu (Theatre West, 

Bristol, 2013) and Prella’s Gift (Show 

of Strength, Bristol, 2012). He is a 

founder member of the international 

arts network Culture Exchange 

Experiment and the online Anglo- 

Bulgarian collaborative arts project 

Colourful Star. 

Meet thy makers... 

Just some of the contributors to this issue of Shakespeare Magazine 

Helen Mears teaches English 

Literature, Film and Media Studies 

at a Further Education college in 

Ipswich. She has loved Shakespeare 

since her schooldays and at weekends 

can be found volunteering at The 

Globe or the Sam Wanamaker 

Playhouse. She is currently studying 

for an MA in the Advanced Teaching 

of Shakespeare. She is at her happiest 

when watching Shakespeare, 

exploring castles and monastic ruins 

or listening to Fall Out Boy. 

Koel Chatterjee is an English 

language tutor and examiner as 

well as a PhD candidate at Royal 

Holloway, University of London. 

Her field of research is Shakespearean 

appropriations and adaptations in the 

Hindi film industry in post-colonial 

India. She runs the blog 

www.muchadoaboutshakespeare.com 

and is co-organiser of the Shakespeare 

and Bollywood Conference. 

Hannah Tribe is a young Welsh 

artist with “a passion for making”. 

She studied Drawing and Applied 

Art at the University of the West 

of England. Here, she developed 

an interest in creating work using 

techniques associated with notions 

of traditional female craft. In so 

doing, she attempts to address “the 

everyday conflicts between feminism 

and femininity”. She continues 

to experiment with works in 

embroidery, floristry, cake decoration 

and ceramics. 


Curtain 

MICKEY 

ROONEY 

(1920-2014) 

“If we shadows have offended, 

Think but this, and all is mended, 

That you have but slumbered here 

Whilst visions did appear. 

And this weak and idle theme, 

No more yielding but a dream, 

Gentles, do not reprehend, 

If you pardon, we will mend... 

Else the Puck a liar call 

So, good night unto you all. 

Give me your hands, if we be 

friends, 

And Robin shall restore amends.” 

A teenage Rooney bids farewell 

 

 


Next issue 

We hope you’ve enjoyed Issue One of Shakespeare Magazine. 

We’ll be back next month, and here’s just a few of the Bard-related 

delights we’ll be unfurling for your pleasure... 

PARIS SHAKES! 

An army of Shakespeare experts descend on one of the world’s 

 

 

Macbeth at the Movies 

From Kurosawa to Fassbender, the Scottish Play on 

the silver screen. 

 

 

 

Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits 

From Cole Porter to Elvis Costello, every great songwriter 

has a touch of the Shakes... 

Being Shakespeare 

Meet the actors who make a living by playing the Bard. 


13 Feb - 2 May 2014 

Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol 

Raleigh Road, Bristol, BS3 1TF 

0117 902 0344 

www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com 

6 - 10 May 

Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough 

Westborough, Scarborough, 

N Yorks, YO11 1JW 

01723 370541 

www.sjt.uk.com 

13 - 17 May 

Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham 

Regent Street, Cheltenham, GL50 1HQ 


www.everymantheatre.org.uk 

20 - 24 May 

Hall for Cornwall 

Lemon Quay, Truro, TR1 2LL 


www.hallforcornwall.co.uk 

3 - 7 June 

Theatre Royal, Winchester 

21-23 Jewry Street, Winchester, 

Hants SO23 8SB 


www.theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk 

10 - 14 June 

Exeter Northcott Theatre 

Stocker Road, Exeter, EX4 4QB 

01392 493 493 

www.exeternorthcott.co.uk 

17 - 21 June 

Salisbury Playhouse 

Malthouse La, Salisbury, Wilts, SP2 7RA 

01722 320 333 

www.salisburyplayhouse.com 

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