Play Reviews: Henry V, Coriolan/Us, Macbeth, the Tragedie of Cleopatra, Richard III, the Two Gentlemen of Verona, Twelfth Night, Roméo et Juliette [Romeo and Juliet], Macbeth, Two Gentlemen of Verona, the Winter's Tale, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar

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“…59 As Barbara Ravelhofer has shown, the emphasis on 'descent' of grand masquers was pronounced. 60 It was always deities or 'higher' beings that descended from mountains, the heavens or cloudscapes. 61 Overcome by the poisoned fumes from Isabella's censer, Livia is forced to descend from her godly height.…”

“…59 Classical plays exercised a particular influence over the printing of plays: every Latin play printed in early modern England included a character list and so it may have been a recognizably classical form that certain stationers, scribes, and authors, eager to associate their dramatic texts with that prestigious tradition, sought to emulate. 60 As the examples of act divisions and of dramatis personae lists in manuscript plays both indicate, interactions between print and manuscript drama were dialogic, with one often serving as an exemplar to the other. 61 This dialogue derives from the larger cultural and material relationship between the two media in the period.…”

“…59 This imitation of the early modern is disrupted by present-day features such as electric chandeliers and modern portraits, but even these created dialogues with our performance: some spectators commented on the fact that our Cleopatra embodied queenship in front of a striking modern portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. 60 Our performance used the 1607 edition of Cleopatra, as in the portrait inscription. This edition is Daniel's last major reworking of the play, moreover, and his revisions suggest traces of performance experience.…”