If you love culture and always carry a spare jumper in you bag, we’re sure that Shakespeare’s Globe has a meaningful place in your heart.
As the days get warmer, now would be about the time audiences would be flocking to the outdoor playhouse for an encounter with the Bard (and probably some bird noises in the background).
However, the lockdown has left us confined to our homes and washing our hands more often than Lady Macbeth. This week would have seen the opening of Ola Ince’s production of Romeo and Juliet, starring Alfred Enoch and Rebekah Murrell - instead we’re watching our neighbours perform it out of their windows .
If you’re pining for the groundling days but instead just feel like you’ve been grounded, we’ve got a few cultural recommendations to keep the Shakespeare spirit alive.
Watching
Although we won’t be able to see the Globe’s latest production of Romeo & Juliet, the theatre have made its 2009 production available to watch for free online. Directed by Dominic Dromgoole, it features Ellie Kendrick and Adetomiwa Edun as the star-crossed lovers. Of course, you could just go old school and dust off your VHS tape of the 1996 Baz Luhrmann film version, starring Leonardo di Caprio and Claire Danes.
For other Shakespearean delights, put May 1 in your diary: that’s when the Royal Opera House will broadcast Christopher Wheeldon’s production of The Winter’s Tale, performed by the Royal Ballet. The Donmar’s award-winning Shakespeare trilogy, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, is available to watch on Marquee TV.
For a bit of daily delight, Sir Patrick Stewart is reading a sonnet a day on Twitter.
London's West End Theatres go dark during coronavirus - In pictures
Listening
Listen to The Shakespeare Sessions podcast, Radio Three’s archive of recorded performances of the Bard’s plays. There’s also a number of Shakespeare-themed lectures available to listen to for free from the University of Oxford - just search for ‘Approaching Shakespeare’. They are delivered by Professor Emma Smith, a celebrated scholar of the Bard. Shakespeare’s Globe has its own podcast - Such Stuff - with a recent episode focusing on one of the very best film adaptations: 10 Things I Hate About You. If that all feels a bit serious, why not stick on the original cast recording for & Juliet, the delightfully silly West End musical asking what would have happened if Juliet hadn’t killed herself… through the songs of Britney and the Backstreet Boys.
Reading
Professor Emma Smith’s lecture series spawned an accessible and original book entitled This Is Shakespeare: How to Read the World’s Greatest Playwright. It’s just been released on paperback, and is worth a read if you’re looking to knuckle up without it feeling too much like hard work. Shakespeare’s life inspired by Maggie O’Farrell’s latest novel, Hamnet, which has just been shortlisted for the Women's Prize For Fiction. It posits the theory that Hamlet was inspired by the loss of Shakespeare’s own son, who died at the age of 11. Elsewhere, James Shapiro’s recently published Shakespeare in a Divided America looks at how his work has been embraced throughout the history of the United States - including under Donald Trump’s presidency.
