Productions Outside London, 2022–2023

Summary

COVID-19 seemed like a distant memory as theatres re-opened in 2022; faces went unmasked, and houses seemed fairly full as I began travelling the country for performances of Shakespeare. Perhaps surprisingly, few performances focused on or even contained traces of the pandemic. Instead, other pressing social concerns came to the fore, including the climate emergency, intergenerational conflict – recalling the supposed disparities between Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z – as well as questions of representation and identity, especially regional and national identity. I saw plays in pairs in the hope that productive comparisons would ensue, and common themes did emerge. The two Midsummer Night’s Dreams were focused on issues of language and translation, while the two Hamlets shared a concern with child and adult dynamics. Both Tempests interrogated issues of ecology and climate change, while the Macbeths foregrounded the contemporary through their aesthetics and appeal to new audiences.