REVIEW: As You Like It, Shakespeare’s Globe ✭✭✭

As You Like It At Shakespeare's Globe

Blanche McIntyre, whose revival of As You Like It now at the Globe, uses every trick in the book to make Shakespeare’s play clear (it is, very), risqué (it is, very), engaging (it is, almost always) and funny (it is, often). There is music, dancing, cross-dressing, the carcass of a deer, lusty jostling, a tap-dancing clown, and a cross-dressing God of Marriage. There is much for the groundlings to delight in, as well as a few “oohs” and “awws”.

REVIEW: Arcadia, Theatre Royal Brighton Then On Tour ✭✭✭

Arcadia English Touring Theatre

It’s a symphony of wit and wisdom wrapped up in a puzzle, a puzzle which is shattered and then, like a fiendishly difficult jigsaw puzzle, is put back together piece by piece. There are no unanswered questions at the end, no conundrums to ponder about the narrative. Stoppard ensures that everything works and that the humour and humanity of the piece is the lasting impression.

REVIEW: Accolade, St James Theatre ✭✭✭✭

Rona (Abigail Cruttenden), Will (Alexander Hanson) and Ian (Sam Clemmett) in Accolade. Photo by Mark Douet. St James Theatre

McIntyre directs with careful, thorough assuredness, avoiding the easy trap of treating the material like the melodrama it could so easily become, preferring instead to focus on true and believable characterisation and detailed, intimate, and utterly believable situations and exchanges.