Tag: Theatre

Literature

Five Fascinating Facts about Kenneth Tynan

Fun facts about the life and work of the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan 1. He dodged his National Service – possibly by being too flamboyant. When Kenneth Tynan (1927-1980) was called up for National Service, he turned up with painted fingernails and wearing an over-the-top floppy hat, and ‘camped up’ his […]

Literature

Was Hamlet a Woman? Yes and No…

At the moment, Maxine Peake is playing Hamlet at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. The promotional blurb for the production on the Royal Exchange website states that Peake ‘creates a Hamlet for now, a Hamlet for Manchester’. But a woman playing Shakespeare’s Hamlet is, actually, nothing new. Numerous women have […]

Literature

Can You Solve the Sphinx’s Other Riddle?

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) One of the most celebrated tragedies of ancient Greece was Oedipus Rex, Sophocles’ play about the Theban king who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother. In order to become King of Thebes, Oedipus had had to solve a famous riddle – or should […]