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.
I really like visiting the National Portrait Gallery because I feel that I am getting close to people in a non intrusive way. I particularly enjoyed the Gay Icons exhibition for three reasons. Firstly, my interest in the ten panel members who made the selections, secondly for their selections, and thirdly for the reasons for…
Read more Gay Icons (National Potrait Gallery, 18th July 2009)
When visiting Manchester Art Galley, I spent some time in front of Arthur Hughes’ Ophelia which is a fascinating image illustrating the moment just before Ophelia drowns in the ‘weeping brook’. The shape of the canvas draws attention immediately to the image and the words on the frame are a reminder of Shakespeare’s language, but…
Read more My thoughts on..Arthur Hughes' Ophelia (Manchester Art Gallery, 15th July 2009)
Yes of course, it would be possible to go to a Bingo Hall and have similar experience to watching the Manchester Royal Exchange’s production of Everybody Loves a Winner. The audience enters the stalls through an entrance lined with fruit machines, and once in the auditorium they are confronted with a replica Bingo Hall with…
Read more Everybody Loves a Winner (Manchester Royal Exchange, 15th July 2009)
Mirrors, water, tapestries reflect the dreams and reveries of doomed women who are often wearily suffering from loss or are washed out with the pain of unrequited love. Some have suffered death and others are just about to. In contrast, the temptress uses the ice cool water to tease and lure men to sexual deviation…
Read more One & Other, 12 noon man. (Trafalgar Square, 11th July 2009)
I have managed to watch all the Torchwood episodes this week thanks to the magic of Sky +. I must admit I was gripped and had to catch up because of watching open air Shakespeare for a couple of evenings (see other blog entries). It was enormously difficult to avoid spoilers (especially now I twitter,…
Read more Torchwood and Coronation Street (w/c 6th July 2009)
Once upon a time……. in a castle on the mountain where the ravens croaked, the young girl mourned the death of her physician father brought up by the Countess Rossillion. Rossillion was a dark place. Then Helena fell in love with the Countess’ son, Bertram, and it should have ended happily ever after. For her…
Read more All's Well That Ends Well (National Theatre, 11th July 2009)
Open air Shakespeare is about having an entertaining afternoon/evening out, as much as it is about searching out that brilliant performance of Shakespearean production. Of course when going to any theatre, there is a hope it will be entertaining, but open air Shakespeare brings with it all the ritual of what you do before and…
Read more The Comedy of Errors and The Tempest (Ripley Castle, Library Gardens York)
I have always loved the radio, but I think I listen to the radio more than watch television (but maybe not as much as going to the theatre). There’s those waking moments when the day starts and half asleep the Today programme invades my dreams. If I am lucky to get a lift to work,…
This is becoming the As You Like It summer. I’ve already blogged about the Curve production, RSC production, and the Globe production, but felt that I had make mention of the RSC one again after seeing Mariah Gale go on as understudy for Rosalind. On this occasion, there were no press releases or reports of…
Julie Raby: A Dyslexic Writer 