Romeo and Juliet. Review by Barbara Lewis. Even in times when women are cast as Shakespeare’s Lear and Prospero, it’s a bold move to do the same with Romeo – the byword for the romantic male lover. It’s the tactic of Greenwich Theatre’s artistic director James Haddrell, who has also dared to compete for audience attention with the World Cup and heatwave weather in what is billed as fresh, summer Shakespeare.
year 2026
The Nova Exhibition. Review by Graham Buchan. On entering this exhibition visitors are invited to sit on a wooden bench and watch a 5-minute video of revellers at the Nova Music Festival. On the screen are dancers, quite possibly off their heads, arms in the air and smiling from ear to ear.
Poetry review – INTIMATE ARCHITECTURE: Jennifer Johnson admires Tess Jolly’s adroit use of language in poems that explore memory and imagination
Poetry review – SUBLIME LUNGS: Paul McDonald is impressed by the powerful imagery and inventive language in this collection by Kate Noakes, which deals honestly with chronc illness
Poetry review – THE BAY: Charles Rammelkamp discovers perceptive insights and observations in David Dodd Lee’s new collection
Poetry review – THE 50, VOLUME 2: Charles Rammelkamp relishes some broad and pretty unsubtle humor in an anthology edited by J.T. Whitehead
Poetry review – THE CHEMISTRY OF EMOTION: Madeleine O’Beirne responds to a joint collection by Fiona Perry & Stephen Paul Wren
Poetry review – TIPS FOR COLLECTORS OF THE MACABRE: Pat Edwards finds that Jennie E Owen can make engaging poetry out of seemingly unpromising subject matter
Poetry review – BIRDMEN AND ASTRONAUTS: Sarah Leavesley is intrigued by the layers of meaning in a new collection by Dharmavadana
Poetry review – EMERGENCY DREAM: Pat Edwards admires the way that Polly Atkin’s poetry links the personal with wider societal and global issues
Poetry review – ACCEPTING THE CALL: James Roderick Burns admires a varied but coherent first collection by Tim Dwyer
Allegra. Review by Julia Pascal. This seemingly frothy play with music is a vehicle for Dame Maureen Lipman. She plays Allegra, a woman with a pathological desire to burst into song. Allegra is motivated to brighten the mood of those around her, even at the most inappropriate moments.
By Julia Pascal • music, plays, theatre, year 2026 • Tags: Julia Pascal, music, plays, theatre