Hi, I’m Julie.
I am a retired Principal Lecturer. I continue to research contemporary Shakespeare performances. In retirement, I no longer teach Shakespeare but I now get to visit new places. I love theatre, outdoor swimming and writing about those experiences in my blogs.
A Serpent, an apple and a garden. With the new Doctor Who series we are on familiar story-telling territory, but with an electrifying and stimulating twist. In ‘Blink’ (3.10) Steve Moffat utilises the horror genre beautifully, as the rain is pouring down and a young woman (Sally Sparrow) enters a deserted house. In the ‘Eleventh…
Read more Doctor Who ‘The Eleventh Hour’ 5.1 (3rd April 2010, BBC 1)
In the episode ‘George’s Last Ride’ from the seminal television drama Boys from the Blackstuff, Chrissy (Michael Angelis) pushes George (Peter Kerrigan) in his wheelchair through the derelict landscape of the industrial dock area of Liverpool. The predominance of greys in the scene create a sense of despair and pessimism. As Chrissy helps George stand…
Read more King Lear (RSC, The Courtyard Theatre, w/c 1st March 2010)
The outsider seemed to be dominating the theatre in the performances that I have seen over the last few weeks. I had listened to David Hare’s radio play Murder in Samarkand on iPlayer, and following this saw several theatre productions which had the outsider as an ongoing theme. Murder in Samarkand told the story of Craig Murray (played by David Tennant), who…
I engage with Dr Mark Kermode’s work rather a lot. I listen to the Radio 5 podcast and watch his appearances on The Culture Show. I also dip into his blogs and read some of his DVD reviews in The Observer. This is why it was great to see him in the flesh on his tour.…
Read more Mark Kermode (City Screen York, 24th February 2010)
Measure for Measure is a play that deals with justice, the law, alongside sexuality and passion. In the Almeida production, Ben Miles plays the Duke as restless and anxious. We are introduced to him pacing across the stage some fifteen minutes before the play has started. It is as if he has got up in the middle of…
Watching Frankie and Johnnie at the West Yorkshire Playhouse felt like a very intense two hours. The play explored the lives of two lonely people getting together after they have had sex on their first date. It focuses on the conversations between Frankie and Johnnie who both work together in a diner. The characters move through a range of emotions and there is some humour. …
Read more Frankie and Johnnie (West Yorkshire Playhouse, 18th February 2010)
It is interesting that it is Alan Bennett’s image which is on the publicity materials for the new West Yorkshire Playhouse production of The History Boys. Normally, publicity materials give a feel of the production, can portray images of actors, but do not tend feature the image of the playwright, even Shakespearean productions. However, for me, the image…
Read more The History Boys (West Yorkshire Playhouse, 11th February 2010)
Ghost walks are popular in the city of York. The walks combine performance and a tour guide experience. The ingenious Belt Up Theatre take this tried and tested format and added a twist to it. The performance starts from York Theatre Royal and moves onto the street of York. The night that I went is was snowing…
Read more A Ghost Walk (York Theatre Royal, 10th February 2010)
In Men of the World, I think John Godber has wonderfully captured the atmosphere of the coach trip, in this case to the Rhine. He manages to pick up the conversations of a set of characters who travel overland from their Yorkshire homes to Germany. What he does well is portray the humour in lovely one liners. …
Read more Men of the World (York Theatre Royal, 9th February 2010)
The Lyric Hammersmith’s production took Checkov’s Three Sisters partly out of its original context and placed it in a modern setting, which in itself didn’t necessarily demonstrate that Chechov’s play deals with universal themes, because some of the dilemmas in the drama are particularly relevant to the period in which the play is set. I felt that the it was the relationships…
Read more Three Sisters (Lyric Hammersmith, 30th January 2010)
Julie Raby: A Dyslexic Writer 