by Colin Thomas | Jun 22, 2024 | Review
A couple of hours before the lights went up on this Bard on the Beach production of Twelfth Night, Kate Besworth got the call that she’d be going on as Viola: Camille Legg, who is cast in the role, has been laid low by a nasty bug. Besworth is the understudy for...
by Colin Thomas | Aug 25, 2023 | Review
Presales for Goblin:Macbeth were so strong that Bard on the Beach extended the show’s run before it opened. But Goblin:Macbeth is a waste of time. I understand the initial excitement. I shared it. The idea of goblins (weird and fantastical) performing Macbeth (dark...
by Colin Thomas | Jul 6, 2023 | Review
Director Lois Anderson hasn’t just adapted Shakespeare’s Henry V for Bard on the Beach, she has attempted to rewrite it — and the results are a mess. In Henry V, the reckless young Prince Hal of Henry IV, turns into a warrior whose troops slaughter the French at...
by Colin Thomas | Jun 19, 2023 | Review
It’s wonderful. There are holes in it. But it’s still wonderful. When I first saw director Daryl Cloran’s Beatles-inspired adaptation of As You Like It in its premiere at Bard on the Beach five years ago, I was smitten. Cloran has cut half of Shakespeare’s text and...
by Colin Thomas | Feb 19, 2023 | Review
Although it contains things to admire, this production of Teenage Dick feels too much like an afterschool special or not great theatre for young people. Teenage Dick is playwright Mike Lew’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s Richard III as a high school drama....