Hamnet fails Shakespeare
Paul Mescal’s portrayal leans more on grief than genius
ByShakespeare
Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet melts the heart
Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley are superb in this original transposition of Shakespeare to the silver screen
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Thom Yorke’s Hamlet is brilliantly rendered sacrilege
In an inventive theatrical mash-up, Radiohead’s album Hail to the Thief perfectly articulates the prince’s torment.
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London’s season of sexed-up Shakespeare
New productions of Richard II and Much Ado About Nothing both burnish their texts with hot celebrity appeal – but…
The National’s modern Coriolanus
David Oyelowo is best as Rome’s greatest soldier when he loses his temper.
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My personal Blue Monday involved mountains of couscous and Shakespeare
Financial lockdown means cooking meals that Lee Anderson would approve of, plus red-hot Bardic action.
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The secrets of Shakespeare’s “stupid”, “grotesque” portrait
The infamous “pudding-faced” Droeshout portrait is widely agreed to be hideous and embarrassing. Is there more to it than meets…
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From Elizabeth Winkler to Claire Kilroy: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring Cinderella Boys by Leo McKinstry and In Light-Years There’s No Hurry by Marjolijn van Heemstra.
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Shakespeare’s race problem
The playwright reflected the prejudices of his age, but he also questioned and undermined them.
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No, Philip Larkin is not being “cancelled” by schools
The culture war against teachers and academics is manufactured by right-wing newspapers and rent-a-quote reactionaries.
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Jonathan Bate: “To me, Shakespeare is the great enabler”
How the acclaimed critic made his journey to popular writing, finds solace in Shakespeare, and took revenge on Cambridge.
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From the NS archive: Shakespeare’s garden
26 May 1923: With what relish Shakespeare recites his catalogue of flowers!
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The Tragedy of Macbeth at the Almeida Theatre: here, nothing is polite
Yaël Farber’s production, starring James McArdle and Saoirse Ronan, summons up an energy that is raw and bloody.
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