Romeo and Juliet, Creation Theatre online review - game version falls between stools

★★ ROMEO AND JULIET, CREATION THEATRE Game version falls between stools

Live performance, film and digital play combine in this misfired interactive experience

There is a promising production struggling to get out of this muddled concept. Creation Theatre (here partnered with Watford Palace) is well known for innovative, site-specific pieces, one of which –The Tempest – was adapted for the screen, including interactive elements, last year. I missed this, but reviews suggest it worked well.

The Winter's Tale, RSC, BBC Four review - post-war poise colours a solid production

★★★★ THE WINTER'S TALE, RSC, BBC FOUR Post-war poise colours a solid production

Overcoming lockdown challenges, a broadcast first for Stratford

It has been a hard coming for this RSC Winter’s Tale. Erica Whyman’s production was cancelled by the virus days before its premiere last spring, with plans to stage it in the autumn frustrated by the second lockdown. This broadcast version, retaining that original cast in full, is the first time that a RSC production has gone first to screen, scheduled as part of the BBC's Lights Up season.

Romeo and Juliet, National Theatre online review - a triumphant hybrid

★★★★ ROMEO AND JULIET, NATIONAL THEATRE Simon Godwin's debut film is part dressed-down rehearsal, part cinematic flourish

Simon Godwin's debut film is part dressed-down rehearsal, part cinematic flourish

Shakespeare's enduring tale of star-crossed lovers is especially pertinent in a pandemic. The fatal plot twist depends on failed communication during an outbreak of pestilence, and one of the most famous lines is Mercutio's heartfelt, "A plague on both your houses" – clearly no idle curse. Written a couple of years after plague had closed theatres in 1593 (when Shakespeare turned to writing poetry) that undercurrent must have been all too real for the first audiences. It resonates still.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, SHAKE Festival livestream review - a star turn from Luisa Omielan makes this 'Bottom's Dream'

★★★ A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, SHAKE FESTIVAL  a star turn from Luisa Omielan makes this 'Bottom's Dream'

Jenny Caron Hall's production, with sister Rebecca starring, offers 'mechanical' treats

Just what the Zoom era has brought to theatre – to performers and audiences alike – is something we will no doubt be pondering for some while yet, certainly still in the much-anticipated eventual hereafter when stages in their “traditional” multifariousness are once again standard.

Shakespeare Re-Shaped, Opera Up Close online review - Verdi on the sofa

★★★★ SHAKESPEARE RE-SHAPED, OPERA UP CLOSE ONLINE Verdi on the sofa

The latest of a series of operatic caffeine shots

The screen lights up, the Zoom link connects and there, blinking back at you (30% awkward, 70% enthusiastic) is a familiar face. Is it definitely working? Can you hear me? What do we say now? God, I'm getting old. Even after 12 months of conversation through webcams it still feels forced to me; something to one side of real life, simultaneously weird and routine, intimate and alienating, even as memories of the Old Normal grow increasingly remote. Is that a piano? Well, why not, these days?

Romeo and Juliet, Palace Theatre, Manchester online review - futuristic and timely

★★★★ ROMEO AND JULIET, PALACE THEATRE, MANCHESTER Futuristic and timely

Innovative technology places actors virtually on the stage

The story of Romeo and Juliet is well known, worth revisiting endlessly and always relevant. But there is another story here: the making of the piece using innovative digital technology including CGI, to keep actors and creative team safe in a pandemic.

Romances on British Poetry / The Poet's Echo, English Touring Opera online review - Britten and Shostakovich in a double mirror

★★★★ ROMANCES ON BRITISH POETRY / THE POET'S ECHO, ENGLISH TOURING OPERA Britten and Shostakovich in a double mirror

Two composers add up to one compelling drama, as ETO cuts its cloth to suit the times

A darkened stage; a pool of light; a solitary figure. And then, flooding the whole thing with meaning, music – even it’s just a soft chord on a piano. It’s no secret to any opera goer that even the barest outlines of a staging can magnify the dramatic potential of a piece of music to a point when it can seem like a completely new work.

Upstart Crow: Lockdown Christmas 1603, BBC Two review – plaguey beaks and bubonidiots

★★★ UPSTART CROW: LOCKDOWN CHRISTMAS 1603, BBC TWO  Plaguey beaks and bubonidiots

Ideas needed for a Scottish play from David Mitchell’s Will and Gemma Whelan’s Kate

If you’ve loved every episode of Ben Elton’s Shakespeare and Co comedy, you’ll know what to expect – but you’ll have to swallow bittersweet pills from only two of the excellent ensemble who’ve given us such comfort and joyous rapid-fire delivery of wordsmithery over three series (and on the London stage, as it was before mid-March).

The Warren Outdoor Season, Brighton review - creatives take to the beach

★★★ THE WARREN OUTDOOR SEASON, BRIGHTON Performances in a pop-up theatre

Performances in a pop-up theatre

The Warren is normally to be found in Brighton city centre, where it stages shows during the Brighton Fringe. But there's nothing normal about 2020, so its organisers are now producing The Warren Outdoor Season at a pop-up space on Brighton beach, in sight of the Pier and the Brighton Zip, and it's reassuringly Covid-secure.

Imagine... My Name is Kwame, BBC One review - interesting but incomplete

★★★ IMAGINE... MY NAME IS KWAME, BBC ONE Interesting but incomplete

Profile of Young Vic artistic director could go still further

Filmed, as one would, well, imagine, prior to lockdown, Imagine .... My Name is Kwame hearkens to what now seems a bygone era of full and buzzy playhouses and adventurous theatre-making that was about the live experience and not some facsimile online.