| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| Leader: | |
| Group email: | Shakespeare group |
| When: | On Monday mornings 10:15 am-12:15 pm Several times a year |
| Venue: | Mawdesley Cricket Club Pavilion |
Contact Jane for more details from the email link phone her on 075555 28697.
The group meets for five weeks at a time in order to study a particular play and sometimes an extra two weeks watching a DVD of a good production of that play. We are dedicated to the enjoyment and appreciation of Shakespeare. It doesn't matter if you are already familiar with, or a newcomer to, the plays. Maybe you haven't read or seen a Shakespeare play since you were at school - no matter - it's never to late to start!
You are welcome to join us on Mondays from 10.15-12.15 in Mawdesley Cricket Club Pavilion. Please bring your own refreshments and £1 per session to cover room hire.
We will meet again from Monday 7th September to 5th October inclusive to study 'As You Like It' ahead of our trip to Stratford on 8th October to see the performance. Please speak to Roger Darling if you would like to attend.
Forthcoming events
It's important to see the plays live, so, when possible, we arrange a trip - often to Stratford-upon-Avon where we have the privilege of seeing productions of extraordinary quality.
Shakespeare Trips
THE SHAKESPEARE GROUP’S TRIP TO STRATFORD TO SEE HENRY V - April 22nd 2026
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Stratford was looking lovely in the spring sunshine last Wednesday: swans were swimming, willows were weeping and blossom was blossoming! We arrived with enough time for a stroll around the town and a bite of lunch before our matinee performance. Many thanks to Barbara and Roger who organised the coach and booked our excellent seats
The director Tamara Harvey contextualised the play by opening with a scene from the end of Henry IV Part 2, where the young prince tries on the crown next to his father’s ailing body. The audience was therefore made aware of Henry’s ambition as well as his newness to the role. Alfred Enoch as Henry V delivered his lines with clarity and pace, but his two great rallying speeches lacked the grit of Kenneth Branagh and Alex Hassell, who had played the role in earlier RSC productions. Some of the descriptive lines of The Chorus had been cut, and the remainder were spoken by Henry, which perhaps compromised their poetic impact.
As we have come to expect from the RSC, the staging was imaginative and exciting. The scaffolding structure at the rear of the stage at times suggested the galleries around the court, the rigging of tall ships, or the battlements of Harfleur, which rotated dizzily, suggesting the confusion and instability of battle. The hanging of the three traitors, Cambridge Scroop and Grey, happens off stage in Shakespeare’s script, but in this production they swung from the scaffolding in a shocking backdrop to Henry’s speech threatening war on France.
Annie Deakin-Foster and Kate Waters designed the stylised choreography of the battle scenes where figures leapt across the stage and grappled with invisible foes. However the French were indistinguishable from the English, leaving the audience confused, perhaps to indicate that there are no real winners in war.
One of the acting highlights was Paul Hunter as the cowardly soldier Pistol, depicted as a Victorian pugilist with fists raised and high-waisted leggings. The French princess’s English lesson, once charmingly acted by a young Judi Dench, was set in a field hospital, where Katherine (Natalie Kimmerling) walked among the wounded soldiers, naming their injured body parts. The final wooing scene took place around the corpse of the Dauphin, emphasising the princess’s role as the victor’s prize. The play ended with the lines of the Epilogue spoken tearfully by Katherine, leaving the audience in no doubt about the short-lived benefits of victory. These directorial decisions removed any similarity with the ending of romantic comedies and lost some of the variety in light and shade of Shakespeare’s text.
Other critics have pointed out the missed opportunities in terms of costumes and staging where the play could have been given contemporary relevance. Nevertheless it was a thoroughly enjoyable day out which left our group with plenty to reflect upon and discuss!
Jane Kingsford
Measure for Measure - October 2025
Our most recent trip to Stratford-upon-Avon was to see a production of Measure For Measure. This time, there were no hold-ups on the roads and all arrangements went to plan. Even the weather was on our side! It was a brilliant production - powerful and exciting with excellent acting - particularly Adam James as the Duke and Isis Hainsworth as Isabella. The strategy of removing the sub-plot worked well in order to focus on the main plot without distraction, and I didn't miss the ‘comic’ characters at all. In fact, Lucio, played by Douggie McMeekin, provided much comedy. Measure is a play which is always relevant, and, on this occasion, the themes of hypocrisy, corruption in high places and abuse of power were particularly apt. It’s a play full of questions and this interpretation added to them. In our five sessions of study, we explored each act and enjoyed lots of animated discussion. This production delivered even more food for thought. The direction by Emily Burns was innovative and included a couple of ‘extra’ scenes which, on this occasion at least, clarified some of the age-old intrigue of one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’.
Moyra
Simon Russell Beale and Mark Quartley in The Tempest
