shakespeare | the m0vie blog

MacBeth at the Abbey Theatre

Posted on April 24, 2010 by Darren

Myself and the better half had the pleasure of taking in a show in the national theatre last night. Director Jimmy Fay has brought Shakespeare’s MacBeth, the play known in the industry as “the Scottish play”, to the stage. I studied MacBeth in secondary school, as one of the big four tragedies. I would have rather studied Othello or Hamlet, but at least it wasn’t King Lear. We had high hopes in settling into our seats for the full performance – Fay had brought The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui to the stage only last year in a show that remains perhaps my favourite of all the plays I have seen at the Abbey. Did MacBeth live up to those expectations?

"Something wicked this way comes..."

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Filed under: Theatre | Tagged: abbey, aidan kelly, dublin, eileen walsh, jimmy fay, macbeth, macbeth at the abbey, play, review, shakespeare, the abbey, the abbey theatre, Theatre | 3 Comments »

Absolute Sandman: Volume IV

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Darren

It’s over. Wow. It has been a long haul, but an impressive and richly rewarding one. Having read the entire collection again over the space of about a month, I have even more appreciation for the wonder of Neil Gaiman’s writing. The volume is pretty much perfect, featuring (in my opinion) the most consistently brilliant artwork of the four volumes and a fitting conclusion to a saga that has run for 1,500 pages already. It’s hard enough to write a fitting conclusion to a two-hour movie or a novella. How does Gaiman manage to tie up everything so ridiculously well?

An empty throne? Foreshadowing, you say?

Warning: This review contains spoilers (as any review of the collection will). They’re minor, they’ve been foreshadowed throughout the collection and pretty much made explicit at the climax of the Volume 3. Still, consider yourself appropriately warned.

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: absolute death, absolute sandman, absolute sandman: volume 4, absolute sandman: volume iv, arts, comic books, dc comics, dream, dreams, Endless, exiles, graphic novels, loki, morpheus, mythology, neil gaiman, Online Writing, Rose Walker, sandman, shakespeare, stories, the absolute sandman, the kindly ones, the sandman, the tempest, the wake | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Romeo + Juliet

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Darren

I’m baaaaack!

Is it a spoiler to say that Romeo + Juliet is a tragedy? You never know these days (I’m reminded of that great Simpsons’ quote, “It started out like Romeo & Juliet, but it ended up in tragedy” – I remember a few people being surprised when I laughed at that, leading me to explain the joke). Still, the opening monologue lays it all out on the table, as does the fact that Shakespeare only ever wrote comedies or tragedies – and this ain’t a comedy. Anyway, I must confess I hate the play, as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee. Okay, not really, but it was drilled into my head for my Junior Certificate exam (as Macbeth would be drilled into my head for the Leaving Certificate). I remember my English teacher – a very nice old lady, by all accounts – steadfastly refusing to show us the Baz Luhrmann ‘reimagining’ of the play. To this day I’m not sure if she made the right call.