"Strongly physical, highly emotional, fast paced and visually innovative"

Diss Express found Henry V and The Winter's Tale "strongly physical, highly emotional, fast paced and visually innovative. Dugald Bruce-Lockhart "carried his regal role with authority" and "[h]is Crispin Day speech was mesmerising and uplifting," Robert Hands played Leontes "with powerful emotion" and Karl Davies stood out in both plays, portraying a Catherine with "delightful humour" and "shining" as the Young Shepherd.  (Norwich)

Blogger Jennifer Potter recorded her reactions to Propeller's return to the Watermill, articulating some of what makes Propeller such an exceptional company.

The two shows drew praise from ABC Perth, which lauded how "Director Edward Hall frames the words in perfect context; in some ways, he rescues scenes that might be overlooked [...] and gives them new clarity and focus" and points to the The Winter's Tale as proof "every Propeller actor is a born comic."

Blogger Cameron Woodhead saw the shows in Perth and looks closely in his review of the female performances by Karl Davies, Richard Dempsey and Vince Leigh as well as providing some key details about each production in a review that concluded they were a "Perth Festival highlight."

Speaking of Perth, here is the program for Henry V and The Winter's Tale from the Perth Festival, which can be downloaded as a PDF.  [e]

Propeller in China

Propeller's stay in China was part the larger UK Now festival. China Daily looked at the overall festival as well as Propeller specifically.  [e]

Propeller in China

Before they arrived in China, City Weekend previewed Propeller's Henry V, looking forward to "incredible results" from this "unique theater group." China Daily mentioned both shows in their write-up, which focused on the company's policy of single-sex casting. Similarly, ExpatChn heralds Propeller as an opportunity to experience "authentic Shakespeare" and That's Magazine explains the female free policy as the company hoping "to bring out nuances in the text that might otherwise be lost"

Shanghai Cultural Information profiles Henry V by looking not just at the play and Propeller, but also at William Shakespeare.

Like China Daily, the Global Times article about Propeller's Chinese stay focuses on the all-male aspect of the company's work, speaking to Ed Hall, Robert Hands and Dugald Bruce-Lockhart about the shows and company. The Global Times follows-up on the gender question with another article, quoting Joseph Graves, Artistic Director of Peking University's Institute of World Theatre and Film.

Time Out Shanghai praised the shows and promised readers "whether you choose the tragic fairy tale or the gory history for your night at the theatre, Propeller delivers." The article also contains quotes from Ed Hall on Propeller's origins and their current productions.

Hall also is quoted in Shanghai Daily's article  which calls Henry V "dangerous, thrilling and deeply moving" and The Winter's Tale "a fairy story that is at once mysterious and extraordinary."  [e]

Conquering Oz

Propeller is in Australia for the Perth International Arts Festival, where The Winter's Tale and Henry V are racking up more praise. The Australian says the double bill is marked by "clear vision" with an acting ensemble that is "superb and versatile." Australian Stage credits "innovative direction and brilliant execution" for making The Winter's Tale "a fabulous piece of theatre" and, despite some reservations about the all-male cast, The West Australian concludes The Winter's Tale is "glorious stuff" and a "marvelous production."  [e]

Talking Australia

Amidst the flurry of new reviews, we've found this video of Jonathan Holloway, the Artistic Director of the Perth International Arts Festival, talking about Henry V and Winter's Tale.

-cs

All-Male Double-Take in Australia

Ahead of their arrival in Perth, here's a piece about Propeller in The Australian. Matthew Westwood talks with Edward Hall about the use of an all-male company (something Westwood thinks "still seems odd"), the benefits of pairing contrasting plays, and the ambiguity of "Period Shakespeare", among other things. A good read!

-cs

"Obviously, ridicules the French."

Some more of the notices from Girona...

El Periodico uses adjectives such as "great," "brilliant" and "unbeatable" in its review (translated) of Henry V, with mentions of Dugald Bruce-Lockhart and Karl Davies.

Parohia concentrates mostly on the character of Henry V within the text (translated) but concludes that, with performers like Dugald Bruce-Lockhart and Tony Bell, "everything is perfect in this show."  [e]

"What's yer name, luv?"

Another tour, another international stop, another round of Google-garbled web pages for your reading pleasure.

I have been purposefully shying away from previews as they tend to be based off the same press release and can be repetitive, but it's worth a look at how an inherently English play such as Henry V is marketed in Spain (translated). Oh, and here's one more (translated).

I ave absolutely no idea if this review (translated) is good or bad but, as the saying goes, "which means than means."

Terra Noticias' piece (translated) is less a review and more a short article (I think) reporting on the production and press conference given by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart.

The kids are back in the rehearsal room now, so expect a bit of a slow-down in posting until mid-January when it will begin again in earnest!

Happy holidays!

[e]

Henry V Trailer

Below is the (somewhat jumbled) trailer for Henry V at the Temporada Alta, Girona:




[e]

Playing in Key

While at BAM, Ed Hall participated in an artist's talk with New York Shakespearean (and former co-worker of mine), Barry Edelstein, to talk about tapping into the extremes of Shakespeare's plays and using the ensemble to bring those extremes into focus.

The Epoch Times caught Comedy of Errors in New York and found it a "delight," praising the cast, direction and design of the production and highly recommending the production to readers.

Germany Ahead

Propeller is off to New York this week, but looming in the future is an appearance at the German Neuss Festival in July. The site has downloadable pictures from Richard III and previews on that show and Comedy of Errors.

Knock Yourselves Out, Kids

Richard III was mentioned on Spain's Radio Nacional last week. Unfortunately, audio can't translated the way text can (ie, by someone with no background in the language), but here is the blog post mentioning the show's run down (translated) and, for the truly dedicated, the audio for the show itself (below). The Propeller bit begins at around minute 38, and bits of Ed Hall at the press conference that is, sadly, simultaneously translated.

El ojo crítico - Robos de arte insólitos y filosofía en vena - 02/12/10

Owning the Season

LaFinestraDigital.com offers a brief, two paragraph summary (translated) of Richard III's successful premiere in Spain.

Attend the Tale of Richard III

DiarideGirona.cat's review (translated) from Propeller's recent stay in Spain compares the hunchback king to a certain Fleet Street barber...or at least, I'm pretty sure it does, as this is not one of Google translate's finer works.

As Unreasonable As Excellent

I make no guarantees about the accuracy of  Google translation, but I do enjoy the phrase "as unreasonable as excellent" that closes this El Periódico review (translated). Richard Clothier and Dominic Tighe's performances are both mentioned, as is the music and the puppet work.

Meanwhile, El Punt's review (translated) tends to focus more on the historical and literary character of Richard (and his subsequent portrayal in this production) than on individual performances, though Tony Bell is singled out. The review concludes that Richard III is "another gem in the bag."

Ricardo III

A few more previews from Spain while waiting for the reviews..

Sies.tv (translated) comments on the cuts made to this, the "second longest work of the bardo Stratford."

VilaWeb is another somewhat garbled translation but, as its focus is on the plot, it's not terribly difficult to make sense of it all.

Avui (translated) places Richard III in context of the festival's offering of orthodox theater presented with "spontaneous irreverence."

Richard III: a great play!

So translates one blogger's review of Richard III from Spain. It's always difficult searching for reviews in another language, but, if this one is any indication, further praise should be forthcoming.

Determined to Make the Villain in Spain

Some of the press coming out of Spain...

El País has a feature this morning (translated) previewing Richard III's weekend in Girona.

Avui's article translates less cleanly and awkwardly identifies Peter Hall as the director instead of Ed. Um....oops?

And, finally, Ed Hall, Richard Clothier and Dominic Tighe participated in a press conference yesterday, and so are represented in a slew of articles including those from Gironainfo.cat (translated), El Periódico (translated), El Faro (translated), DiarideGirona.cat (translated) and a small preview on the Catalan New Agency (translated).

Setting Spanish Sights

Richard III premieres in Spain next week and Girona Festival Temporada Alta has put the program online. For those whose Catalan is rusty (or who enjoy a good game of telephone), the translated page can be found here.

Milano

They've done their second hit-and-run in Italy, this time in Milano. For those of you who enjoyed deciphering the reviews from Rome, here's some more you can take a crack at...

Persinsala (translated) previewed the shows, hailing them as "Shakespeare as Shakespeare would have done."

Duetto2000 (translated) sketched out the company's production history it its preview.

In a review from PanoraMI (translated), the elements of contrast and ambiguity are noted and the intelligence of the production lauded.

I admit, I have no idea what delTearo thought of the production, as the translation is unusually garbled, but the idea of the audience being co-prisoners is interesting to mull over.