Theatre review: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare's Globe)

I think I've done a good job of keeping an open mind about Emma Rice taking over the Globe; the former Kneehigh boss has been responsible for various shows I've really not liked in the past, and hasn't helped with comments in the papers about shaking up the text, and the rarely-performed Shakespeares staying rarely-performed under her watch. But people can surprise you* and there's been good buzz around her debut production - indeed the sole Shakespeare play she'll be directing herself in her first year - so I was cautiously optimistic about her take on the currently-ubiquitous A Midsummer Night's Dream. The setting is, sort-of, the Globe itself, where the rude mechanicals become a group of the venue's volunteer stewards, led by Rita Quince (Lucy Thackeray,) who opens the show with a funny but stern lecture on how to behave, before deciding to turn actors themselves with a show to celebrate the royal wedding.

Theatre review: The Blood is Strong

Continuing its work representing all four nations of the United Kingdom, the Finborough's latest show looks at the looming possibility of one of those nations getting lopped off the map. Set in 2011, in the runup to Scottish Parliamentary elections that would go well for the Scottish National Party and open the door to the Independence referendum, David Hutchison's The Blood is Strong compares England and Scotland to a long-standing music hall partnership - they don't always get on, but they've been important to each other for too long to throw it away. Alec (Martin Buchan) is a veteran of the Scottish Music Hall, a singer of romanticised ballads still loved by many but unpopular with the nationalists who see this musical tradition as peddling a Disneyfied, saccharine version of their country. Married to the English Maisie (Janet Amsden,) Alex is quietly pro-Union, but his fiercely intelligent daughter feels differently.