William Shakespeare Archives

Reviews Theater

TWELFTH NIGHT (Wilma): Beach blanket Bard

Kathryn Osenlund June 12, 2023 1 Comment

There’s a lot of Twelfth Night going around in the Philadelphia area, all different. The Wilma conjures a fresh seaside setting. A dock moves forward.…

Reviews Theater

TWELFTH NIGHT (Wilma): Foolery shines everywhere

Toby Zinman June 10, 2023 No Comments

“Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun; it shines every where.” Leaving Copernicus aside, the Fool’s wry remark is an apt description…

Theater

FAT HAM + ABANDON: Considering James Ijames’s new and newer work

Toby Zinman May 8, 2023 1 Comment

James Ijames won the Pulitzer Prize for Fat Ham, which is now running on Broadway; his even newer play, Abandon, has just opened at Theatre Exile.

Reviews Theater

THE TEMPEST (Quintessence): Full of magic

Kathryn Osenlund March 6, 2023 No Comments

There’s magic and mystery as wonderfully costumed characters come alive to dance, sing, cavort, wrestle, draw swords, threaten violence, and show mercy

Fringe reviews Reviews Theater

ROMEO AND JULIET (OJ Productions): 2022 Fringe review

Kathryn Osenlund September 26, 2022 No Comments

It’s a tragedy that more audiences will not have a chance to enjoy the production.

Features

Words words words

Christopher Munden August 13, 2020 No Comments

In this time of physical isolation, a writer should be able to reach out with language. Our prose should build bridges.

Damon Bonetti as Mercutio in The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre’s 2008 production of ROMEO AND JULIET (Photo credit: John Bansemer)

Features Theater

Remembering Mercutios and Tybalts

Kathryn Osenlund April 9, 2020 2 Comments

In recent days of home-captivity my mind has wandered to Romeo & Juliet performances, new and old. But I’m more interested in Mercutio and Tybalt than the star-crossed lovers.

Features Theater

Remembering Hamlets

Kathryn Osenlund March 28, 2020 9 Comments

Cooped up inside, with no theater in sight, I’m remembering Hamlets I’ve known.

Reviews Theater

TURN (Kimmel Center) 60-second review

Joshua Herren March 1, 2020 No Comments

For those that were worried that Turn, a musical exploration of being a black woman in America through the lens of Shakespeare’s Othello, might be…

Reviews Theater

ROMEO AND JULIET (Wilma): Wherefore do Romeo and Juliet?

Christopher Munden January 22, 2019 1 Comment

What about Shakespeare do we want kids to like?

Fringe Festival Fringe reviews Reviews Theater

LONG TROUBLE (Svaha Theatre Collective): 2018 Fringe review

Kathryn Osenlund September 21, 2018 No Comments

There’s a lovely simplicity in Elise D’Avella’s staging of the tragic story.

Features Theater

Theater in Sketch: TWELFTH NIGHT (Shakespeare in Clark Park)

Chuck Schultz August 7, 2018 No Comments

Chuck Shultz sketches the al fresco production of TWELFTH NIGHT.

Reviews Theater

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Mechanical Theater): Spiriting Shakespeare at Laurel Hill

Lisa Panzer July 31, 2018 No Comments

Double dealing, doubling of characters, double entendre and double dating, of a sort, are doubly fun to watch.

Features Theater

Theater in Sketch: THE RAPE OF LUCRECE (PAC at the Rosenbach)

Chuck Schultz April 7, 2018 No Comments

It was interesting to compare last week’s reading of Shakespeare’s THE RAPE OF LUCRECE at the Rosenbach to the original presentation at the Broad Street Ministry in 2016.

Reviews Theater

JULIUS CAESAR (Quintessence): Why must republics fall?

Julius Ferraro April 2, 2018 No Comments

Quintessence Theatre Group explores the Shakespearean death throes of the Roman Republic.

Reviews

THE TEMPEST (Lantern): Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not

Toby Zinman March 23, 2018 No Comments

Lantern Theater’s production of THE TEMPEST, Shakespeare’s last play, is an enjoyable, modest show, full of comedy and romance and the gentle spirit of human forgiveness.