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 am lead lined. I am tungsten”. Last time I saw Oppenheimer was the last performance in the Swan Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon. This was on the Swan’s thrust stage and when I left the theatre, the stage was covered in chalk and daffodils. Here was another transfer from Stratford that has moved from a thrust to a…
Read more Oppenheimer (The Swan Theatre and Vaudeville Theatre, 7th March and 4th April)
“Oh dear, I went for a restricted view seat which cuts off the top of the set, and clearly there is a top of set which looks like things will happen on it” I think to myself as I sit down. The wooden set is uncluttered and is obviously meant to resemble the Globe/Curtain…
Read more Shakespeare in Love (Noel Coward Theatre, 4th April, 2015)
There are times when I go to the theatre and at the time I realise that I am watching something special and something that I’ll remember for some time. Seeing Robin Soans’ Crouch Touch Pause Engage is going to be one of those plays. It is an excellent piece of theatre which is both harrowing…
Read more Crouch Touch Pause Engage (West Yorkshire Playhouse, 31st March 2015)
I saw Maxine Peake as Hamlet back in September 2014. Seeing the production live was an amazing electrifying experience. Of course, I was curious to see if Peake would play Hamlet as a man, or as a woman. Actually, she played the part as neither. The male pronoun was retained and the rest of the…
Read more Hamlet (City Screen – Manchester Royal Exchange, 27th March 2015)
I saw Pilot Theatre’s Antigone at York Theatre Royal in the Summer. This was Roy William’ss modern dress version, and Williams updated by setting the play in an urban cityscape and exploring gang culture. Williams’ version worked really well. In presenting the play in a modern setting, it explored some of the issues relevant for…
Read more Antigone (Barbican, 22nd March 2015, and Pilot Theatre production)
For this season, the Hampstead upstairs has rearranged the space so the audience are sat round the stage. The obvious effect of this is that the performances are close and intimate. The set is the sitting room of the house that Stevie Smith lived in with her aunt in Palmer’s Green. It’s the kind of…
Read more Stevie (Hampstead Theatre, Saturday 21st March 2015)
When I visit the Donmar, I usually get a little grumpy. I’m reminded though I got through on-line in priority booking, and I’m stuck out at the back, and down the side. Today, I was in C37 which is stage right. When the audience enters the space, they are confronted with a black box set…
The Hampstead downstairs works well as the setting for a small one-bed flat. There’s also that nice reveal at the Hampstead downstairs where your taken into the theatre space. The stage floor was made of pennies, and some were becoming detached, falling to the floor. This set the scene for a play about saving every…
Read more Deposit (Hampstead Downstairs, Friday March 20th 2015)
I thought that the RSC’s idea to pair Love’s Labour’s Lost with Much Ado About Nothing was an interesting one, and provided an opportunity to explore the two plays together. The rationale behind this decision was that Much Ado About Nothing must be the lost play, Love’s Labour’s Won, and so the RSC called it’s production of Much…
Read more Much Ado about Love’s Labour’s Lost and Won (RST, September 2014 to March 12th 2015)
Shakespeare 1. Twelfth Night (Liverpool Everyman) 2. Richard II (RSC, RST and Barbican) 3. Hamlet (Manchester Royal Exchange) 4. Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare’s Globe) 5. The Merchant of Venice (Almeida) 6. Much Ado About Nothing (Manchester Royal Exchange). 7. Taming of the Shrew (RSC) 8. Much Ado About Nothing (Love’s Labour’s Won) (RSC) 9. Love’s Labour’s…
Julie Raby: A Dyslexic Writer 