Theatre review: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry seemed like one of those shows I have an extreme reaction to: The sort of heartstring-tugging story that'll either have me sobbing uncontrollably or cringing halfway out of my skin. Neither really ended up happening in the end - certainly in the first half-hour I found it pretty unbearable, but Rachel Joyce (book) and Passenger's (music and lyrics) adaptation of Joyce's novel does end up more or less bearable. Recently-retired Harold (Transphobia Ltd Employee Mark Addy) lives a joyless life in Devon with funsponge wife Maureen (Jenna Russell,) until one morning he receives a letter informing him that old friend Queenie (Maggie Service) is in a hospice with terminal cancer. He writes a perfunctory response but when he tries to post it finds himself constantly putting it off and walking to the next postbox.

Theatre review: As You Like It (Shakespeare's Globe)

Between Thea Sharrock's near-perfect 2009 production, two helpings of the touring version and most recently a charming visit from Georgia, As You Like It must be the play I've seen the most times at Shakespeare's Globe. All those past productions have established their own identity in my memory despite being in the same setting, but I'm skeptical that Blanche McIntyre's new production will prove quite as memorable. The big deal this time around is the casting of Shakespearean star and Globe regular, Michelle Terry in Shakespeare's biggest female role, Rosalind, daughter of a banished Duke, and herself banished when her usurping uncle takes against her on a whim. She flees to the Forest of Arden disguised as a boy, accompanied by her cousin Celia (Ellie Piercy.) There they encounter Rosalind's father (David Beames) and the exiled court who've made themselves at home there.

Theatre review: Lizzie Siddal

The Pre-Raphaelite equivalent of a supermodel, Elizabeth Siddal modeled for John Everett Millais' Ophelia, still the most popular painting at Tate Britain, and became muse to many artists of the Victorian movement. Jeremy Green's Lizzie Siddal looks at the life beyond the image, when Lizzie moved behind the canvas and attempted to become an artist in her own right. We first meet Lizzie (Emma West) posing for William Holman Hunt (a shamelessly scene-stealing Simon Darwen) and she later gets poached by Millais (James Northcote) for her most famous role, which almost proves fatal when the water goes cold and she contracts pneumonia. But her most enduring relationship, and one that could prove more destructive than any number of cold baths, will be with the artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti.