Jonathan Munby

Ian McKellen’s King Lear Transfers To Duke Of York’s Theatre

News, West End
Ian McKellen as King Lear at Duke Of York's Theatre

The Chichester Festival’s acclaimed production of King Lear starring Sir Ian McKellen, directed by Jonathan Munby will transfer to the Duke Of York’s Theatre from 11 July to 3 November 2018. King Lear tickets are now on sale. Two ageing fathers – one a King, one his courtier – reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with shocking ends. Tender, brutal, moving and epic, King Lear is considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written. This production of King Lear sees Sir Ian McKellen returning to the Duke Of York’s Theatre where he made his West End debut in the 1964 production of A Scent Of Flowers. This intimate and contemporary production of King Lear ran for a sold-out acclaimed season at the Chichester Festival Theatre’s Minerva Theatre … Read more

REVIEW: The Merchant Of Venice, Shakespeare’s Globe ✭✭✭✭

Off West End, Reviews
Jonathan Pryce Merchant Of Venice

Set firmly in its time, circa 1597, with costumes and accoutrements which establish an exotic, far away and, most importantly, bygone era, Munby avoids the great questions of the play and steers a course through the waters of sympathy, self-interest and capitalism. The result is a richly amusing take on the play, which is involving and clear, but which never achieves great heights of lyricism or drama, happily accepting “everyday” as its overall pulse. The high point of poetry for the evening comes with Jonathan Pryce’s heartfelt “Hath not a Jew eyes?” speech, the words wrenched from his very soul.

REVIEW: Twelfth Night, Richmond Theatre ✭✭✭

Touring Reviews
Michael Benz in Twelfth Night, English Touring Theatre

The alternative title to Twelfth Night is What You Will, and, more than anything else, that seems Munby’s inspiration here. He has, with real determination, found a new way to approach the text; deliberately emphasised different aspects of the story to fundamentally change the experience.