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.
What a brilliant idea to fuse Beckett and Tony Benn’s writings. Indeed, the title says it all. This is an exploration of the life and writing of the politician Tony Benn, but with a Krapp’s Last Tape theme. The narrative is told with lots of humour. There’s also some sadness as it is clear that the…
Read more Tony’s Last Tape (Pleasance Courtyard, 8th August 2015) ****
I had such good fun at the Crap Music Rave Party. It felt like being back at the school disco many many years ago. You even get your hand stamped. The thing with this is that the music is cheesy, but it’s not crap, because it gets everyone on the dance floor with a smile…
Read more Crap Music Rave Party (Just the Tonic at the Community Project, Friday 7th August) *****
Testament is a beatboxer and rapper who fuses together hip hop and Blake. It feels like a very odd combination at first, but Testament is so charming and engaging that he takes you with him in a complex performance. Here we have Testament’s own personal story, an analysis of Blake’s poetry, as well as the…
Read more Blake Remixed (Underbelly, Friday 7th August 2015) ****
Jessica Butcher plays Lucy who worked as a hostess in the Winston Club in the sixties. The narrative is of Lucy’s move from club hostess to sex worker and builds to a kidnap which results in Lucy being imprisoned in the Kray twins’ garage with a murderer on the run. The performance was a mix…
Read more Where Do Little Birds Go (Underbelly, Friday 7th August 2015) ****
A drunken night out, but full of humour and engaging. We follow Sheffy on a night out and meet his work colleagues and friends. On the night out Sheffy falls in love. This is an extremely energetic performance from both performers. Of course, there are lots of shows about a drunken night out on the…
Read more Night and Daze (Underbelly, Friday 7th August 2015) ****
It took me some time to get into this show. The young cast were extremely enthusiastic and they were clearly enjoying taking part. Onions become a metaphor for several issues (drug taking, immigration, familial love). The story worked on several layers, like an onion, I suppose. The piece was an exploration of young people’s lives,…
Read more Takeaway by Jackie Kay. (Space one, Friday 7th August 2015) ***
This was my first show of the Fringe this year, and I really enjoyed it. Basically, it is about two people falling in love. The protagonists are both very different men, but they both share a passion for the music of Divas. That’s singers like Dusty, Aretha and Diana Ross. The story is told by the…
I visited the Manchester Royal Exchange to see this production because I wouldn’t be able to catch it in Leeds at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, which is nearer to me. I’m glad I saw it and it was an extra treat to see Robert Gilbert just out of the RSCs Henry plays playing Sam. Rolling…
Read more The Rolling Stone (Manchester Royal Exchange, Wednesday 22nd April 2015)
Mad world! mad kings! mad composition! After seeing the Globe’s production of King John, two images came to mind. The first image is the Globe’s promotional video for its exhibition which shows an inquisitive Anjana Vasan entering the Globe and as she enters the place explodes with characters from the plays. In the video, if…
Matthew Tennyson as Penrose and Andrew Sheridan as Francis (c) Over a weekend I saw Robert Holman’s A Breakfast of Eels, and Simon Stephens’ Carmen Disruption at the Almeida. The former was on the last day of its run and the latter at the second night preview, but both laid bare the core of the theatre building…
Julie Raby: A Dyslexic Writer 