Shakespeare
The Taming of the Shrew
★★★☆☆ Suspiciously old-fashioned
The Edinburgh Makars’ production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, at the Church Hill until Friday, is an apparently traditional version of the play which may well be more quietly subversive than many modern revisions.
Julius Caesar
★★★☆☆ Uneven
Edinburgh University Shakespeare Company’s Julius Caesar, in the Teviot Debating Hall, is as unpredictable as it is ambitious. It is by turn sublime and ridiculous, well thought out at times and inexplicable at others.
Paradok Platform
★★★★☆ Original Shakespeare
Theatre Paradok, the Edinburgh theatre company that is “experimental without being exclusive” is bringing nine new pieces of experimental theatre to their 5pm slot at La Belle Angel for this year’s fringe.
The Macbeth Inquiry
★★★☆☆ Hit-and-miss
The Macbeth Inquiry, from Edinburgh University Shakespeare Company at theSpace @ Niddry Street for the middle week of the Fringe, is a decidedly uneven but enjoyable production.
Hamlet with Ian McKellen
★★★☆☆ Slightly underwhelming
With a performance concept by Peter Schaufuss and Ian McKellen there was a high level of expectation surrounding this world premiere of a new version of Hamlet.
Is This a Dagger?
★★★★★ Spirited
In Is This a Dagger?, Andy Cannon retells an epic, thousand year-old tale of bloody tragedy, deceit and power, bringing Shakespeare’s Macbeth to the stage while interlacing fact with fiction, past with present.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
★★★☆☆ Spacey
Brief, but never tedious, the jazz-infused production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream from Edinburgh University Shakespeare Company at Assembly Roxy is packed with great ideas and quirky detail.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
★★★★☆ Starry night
There is nothing rushed about Dominic Hill’s compelling new production of Benjamin Britten’s opera of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Scottish Opera at the Festival Theatre until Saturday.
The Macbeths
★★★★☆ Bloody good
The Macbeths, the Citizens’ concentrated revision of Macbeth, supplies a charge that is so often missing in versions of the play.
Macbeth forced online
E.A.S. abandons plans for al fresco Macbeth
Edinburgh Acting School’s planned outdoor production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth on Halloween weekend has been forced to move online, as current Covid-19 restrictions were extended this week.
