Arden of Faversham

Arden of Faversham by Anonymous
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An Elizabethan erotic thriller, made extra spicy because based on a true story of a wife murdering her husband. A Coen Brothers element comes in through the excellently named ruffians Shakebag and Black Will, who spend the majority of the runtime comically trying and failing to do the deed. That is intercut with the quarrels between Alice and her lover Mosby, as they waver over their devotion to each other and their commitment to the murder plot. That is the play at its most psychologically acute, providing an interesting insight into contemporary expectations of marriage, gender roles and social class.

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All's Well That Ends Well

All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The depiction of Helen and Bertram is emblematic of Shakespeare’s show not tell approach to drama. We don’t really know why Helen loves Bertram, neither is it very clear why Bertram rejects Helen. Motivation is left open to interpretation, something that actors can define in performance. Despite that openness, this is not a much-loved play. Bertram’s caddishness makes him clearly unsatisfactory as an aspirational love-interest for the intrepid Helen. The resolution of the “comedy” is distinctly uncomfortable and provisional – an explicit rejection of the harmony demanded by endings in the genre. Is a marriage cobbled together by underhand means a justified end? As usual, Shakespeare leaves the question hanging and refuses to provide an answer.

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The Shoemakers' Holiday

The shoemaker's holiday by Thomas Dekker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A feel good fantasy of feasting and upward social mobility, written at a time of poor harvests and high food prices to serve as a welcome bit of escapism. The central figure is the rambunctious shoemaker Simon Eyre, whose lines boom out of the page, and whose casting would make or break a performance. There is darkness at the edge of the play – including a war with France that must resume when the holiday is over – but it hardly balances out its overwhelmingly cheerful tone. A fun time.

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The Comedy of Errors

The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

One of Shakespeare's shortest plays. It forgoes his talents for characterisation to focus on a very knotty plot majoring on confused identity. That perhaps is the point – the characters aren't stable individuals but are defined by external appearances and expectations. That's fine, but it's also not very funny. It is also particularly unkind towards the servant characters, who are constantly beaten, and Adriana, who has to cope with her husband's obvious infidelities.

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Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Better than its reputation suggests, but still not great. The intriguing contrast for me is between Titus, who has buried 20 children and will kill a few more during the events of the play, and Tamora and Aaron, who despite their villainy feel protective over their offspring. That complicates the presentation of Titus as a tragic hero – it is a lack of pity and familial affection that heaps horrors on his head. Aaron is an enjoyably Marlovian devil, but still has enough humanity to want to preserve his son.

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