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No Holds Bard

Daniel Bowen gives us a preview of the diverse line up as The International Shakespeare festival comes to York

Tuesday 21 April 2015

Image provided by York Theatre Royal Image provided by York Theatre Royal

York’s streets regularly host festivals, and one I’ve been anticipating for a long time and that is now approaching quickly is the York International Shakespeare Festival, from 8 to 17 May. Being an English student and having grown up an hour away from Stratford-upon-Avon, nothing makes me feel quite at home as a couple weeks devoted to celebrating the Bard himself. While not everyone gets quite as excited about Renaissance drama as I do, I think the line-up is certainly diverse enough to allow anyone to discover something they find entertaining.

There is a healthy serving of classic Shakespeare. I’m particularly looking forward to Flanagan Collective’s Romeo and Juliet, which will feature an all-female cast. The company has a reputation for choosing eccentric locations to stage their plays; this production will be making use of the space at St. Olave’s Church – an appropriately picturesque backdrop for a play filled with religious imagery. Northern Broadsides are putting on a full-scale production of King Lear, and Two Gents Productions hope to put gender roles under scrutiny with their performance of Taming of the Shrew. York Shakespeare Project, responsible for sell-out productions of Othello and Twelfth Night at York Theatre Royal, are giving us their take on the lesser known Timon of Athens. Our very own Drama Barn is contributing to the festival, too, with their production of Richard III. Already cast and in the works since the start of last term, it certainly looks promising.

The festival has also given space to contemporary exploration and reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s work, with a particular focus on international interpretations. Catalonian actor and puppeteer Miguel Gallardo will attempt to bring new life to Shakespeare’s best known play in Hamlet: A Diagnosis, while Polish company Teatr Strefa Otwarta are using improvisation and audience interaction to explore the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. Japanese solo performer, Aki Isoda, plays Lady Macbeth and Ophelia in her drama Two Shakespeare Heroines.

For those with an interest in contemporary poetry, Yorkshire-based poets Charlie Dupre, Paul Maxy, Rose Condo and Sarah Thomasin have all been invited to give their own take on the works of the Bard, performing in The Stories of Shakey P. For the real enthusiasts, the University is also putting on several free public lectures, inviting international academics working in the field of Shakespearean studies to come and present in the Bowland Auditorium over the course of the festival. These include Irena Makaryk (University of Ottowa, speaking on ‘Shakespeare in Ukraine: Voicing the Times’), Professor Ton Hoenselaars (Utrecht University, ‘Sing Like Birds I’Th’Cage: Cultivating Shakespeare In Captivity 1914- 2014’), Margreta de Grazia (University of Pennsylvania, ‘Ends, Exits and the Eschaton in King Lear’) and York’s own professor, Mike Cordner, who will also lecture on King Lear.

The festival will also be supplemented by several film screenings. The highlight of these may be Svend http://nouse.co.uk/2015/04/21/no-holds-bard Archived 11 Dec 2018 09:33:45 Nouse Web Archives No Holds Bard Page 2 of 3 Gade and Heinz Schall’s 1921 Hamlet, which will be screened in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall. This screening, led by female Hamlet, Asta Nielsen, will present a recently restored colour-tinted print of the film recovered in Germany and will feature a score composed by Robin Harris. The film will be introduced by Judith Buchanan. City Screen are also putting on Maxine Peake’s recent performance as Hamlet and at The Basement you can watch Ralph Fienne’s Coriolanus. Finally, Opera Restor’d revive Lampe’s Pyramus and Thisbe: a rarely performed early comic opera based on the same Ovid story as the scene in A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream.

Spoilt for choice; if I had a little bit more money and fewer exams, I would definitely try to see it all.

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