Latest news with #Elizabethan-style
Evening Standard
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Evening Standard
First look at Ncuti Gatwa in 'ferociously sexy' new play
Shots of Gatwa as Kit show him rocking an Elizabethan-style doublet as he strikes a pose and gets up close and personal with Bluemel's Will. The 32-year-old actor recently said he felt 'too old' to play Doctor Who and quit because his 'body was tired'. But those ballet sessions have clearly paid off as Gatwa can be seen leaping from a table in kneepads and Crocs.
The Province
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Province
Theatre: The women get their say and the dog has its day in Bard on the Beach's season-opening comedies
Jennifer Lines as Beatrice and Sheldon Elter as Benedick in Bard on the Beach's Much Ado About Nothing. Photo by Emily Cooper / Bard on the Beach Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Much Ado About Nothing This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors The Two Gentlemen of Verona When: To Sept. 20 Where: Sen̓áḵw/Vanier Park Tickets, info: From $35 at Bard on the Beach opens its 36th season in its big tent with two of Shakespeare's romantic comedies playing in repertory. Each is engaging in its own way but stylistically they couldn't be more different. Director Johnna Wright gives Much Ado About Nothing a conventional Elizabethan-style setting while The Two Gentlemen of Verona gets the full 1980s Don Johnson-Jane Fonda-George Michael treatment from Dean Paul Gibson. Both amusing productions end with similar twists: Altered endings provide correctives to the plays' blatant misogyny. Much Ado is the superior play, featuring the famous battle of comic wits between wannabe but reluctant lovers Beatrice (Jennifer Lines) and Benedick (Sheldon Elter) plus a dramatic subplot involving young romantics Claudio (Angus Yam) and Hero (Jennifer Tong). Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Benedick vows to live a bachelor, and Beatrice will have no man with a beard or without one. But when Don Pedro (Matthew Ip Shaw) and friends plot to get them together, a few comic scenes later they're done. Meanwhile, Don Pedro's evil brother Don John (Karthik Kadam) plots to ruin Claudio and Hero's marriage, staging a scene that makes Hero look like a slut. Both Claudio and Don Pedro fall for it. When the villainy is revealed by goofy Constable Dogberry (Scott Bellis) and his posse, every boy gets to have his girl without further ado, despite Claudio's appalling behaviour towards innocent Hero. So director Wright has appended text by playwright Erin Shields: a long monologue by Beatrice at the beginning of the play about Hero and a long monologue by Hero at the end, scolding Claudio and pointing out the injustices she has suffered. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Thematically, I get it. Theatrically, it doesn't really work. What works best is the zest with which Lines and Elter parry and thrust in Beatrice and Benedick's love battles on Pam Johnson's gorgeous set through which we watch the sun slowly set. Bard on the Beach The Two Gentlemen of Verona Photo by Emily Cooper / Bard of the Beach The Two Gentlemen of Verona also features two sets of lovers but only a single plot. Valentine (Ip Shaw) mocks best pal Proteus (Jacob Leonard) for falling in love with Julia (Tess Degenstein). But Valentine falls in love with Silvia (Agnes Tong). Then Proteus also falls for Silvia, abandoning Julia, who follows him disguised as a boy. Sylvia's father (Elter) wants her to marry blockhead Turio (Tanner Zerr). This is pretty thin material so Gibson lays on the dumb fun '80s style. Characters enter, exit, and change scenes carrying boom boxes, dancing (choreography by Nicol Spinola) to sound designer Malcolm Dow's pounding disco beats and Gerald King's kaleidoscopic lighting in gorgeously horrid period clothing (especially the men's) from costumer Carmen Allatore. Shakespeare's dialogue is peppered with contemporary interjections: OK, shut up. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In the end, all the complications get straightened out, but not before some really nasty behaviour by Proteus and Valentine, whose bromance is stronger than their respect for the women. Silvia, the character with integrity, has some strong speeches. But the coup de grace here is not rhetorical as in Much Ado. Forget the traditional marriage celebration. The production concludes with a gang of heavily armed women dancing violently to Pat Benatar. The comic coup in this production is the beautifully understated performance of Scott Bellis as the servant Launce, joined by his equally funny, very low-key dog Crab, played adorably by Bard artistic director Christopher Gaze's pooch Mason.
Vancouver Sun
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Theatre: The women get their say and the dog has its day in Bard on the Beach's season-opening comedies
Much Ado About Nothing The Two Gentlemen of Verona When: To Sept. 20 Where: Sen̓áḵw/Vanier Park Tickets, info: From $35 at Bard on the Beach opens its 36th season in its big tent with two of Shakespeare's romantic comedies playing in repertory. Each is engaging in its own way but stylistically they couldn't be more different. Director Johnna Wright gives Much Ado About Nothing a conventional Elizabethan-style setting while The Two Gentlemen of Verona gets the full 1980s Don Johnson-Jane Fonda-George Michael treatment from Dean Paul Gibson. Both amusing productions end with similar twists: Altered endings provide correctives to the plays' blatant misogyny. Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Much Ado is the superior play, featuring the famous battle of comic wits between wannabe but reluctant lovers Beatrice (Jennifer Lines) and Benedick (Sheldon Elter) plus a dramatic subplot involving young romantics Claudio (Angus Yam) and Hero (Jennifer Tong). Benedick vows to live a bachelor, and Beatrice will have no man with a beard or without one. But when Don Pedro (Matthew Ip Shaw) and friends plot to get them together, a few comic scenes later they're done. Meanwhile, Don Pedro's evil brother Don John (Karthik Kadam) plots to ruin Claudio and Hero's marriage, staging a scene that makes Hero look like a slut. Both Claudio and Don Pedro fall for it. When the villainy is revealed by goofy Constable Dogberry (Scott Bellis) and his posse, every boy gets to have his girl without further ado, despite Claudio's appalling behaviour towards innocent Hero. So director Wright has appended text by playwright Erin Shields: a long monologue by Beatrice at the beginning of the play about Hero and a long monologue by Hero at the end, scolding Claudio and pointing out the injustices she has suffered. Thematically, I get it. Theatrically, it doesn't really work. What works best is the zest with which Lines and Elter parry and thrust in Beatrice and Benedick's love battles on Pam Johnson's gorgeous set through which we watch the sun slowly set. The Two Gentlemen of Verona also features two sets of lovers but only a single plot. Valentine (Ip Shaw) mocks best pal Proteus (Jacob Leonard) for falling in love with Julia (Tess Degenstein). But Valentine falls in love with Silvia (Agnes Tong). Then Proteus also falls for Silvia, abandoning Julia, who follows him disguised as a boy. Sylvia's father (Elter) wants her to marry blockhead Turio (Tanner Zerr). This is pretty thin material so Gibson lays on the dumb fun '80s style. Characters enter, exit, and change scenes carrying boom boxes, dancing (choreography by Nicol Spinola) to sound designer Malcolm Dow's pounding disco beats and Gerald King's kaleidoscopic lighting in gorgeously horrid period clothing (especially the men's) from costumer Carmen Allatore. Shakespeare's dialogue is peppered with contemporary interjections: OK, shut up. In the end, all the complications get straightened out, but not before some really nasty behaviour by Proteus and Valentine, whose bromance is stronger than their respect for the women. Silvia, the character with integrity, has some strong speeches. But the coup de grace here is not rhetorical as in Much Ado. Forget the traditional marriage celebration. The production concludes with a gang of heavily armed women dancing violently to Pat Benatar. The comic coup in this production is the beautifully understated performance of Scott Bellis as the servant Launce, joined by his equally funny, very low-key dog Crab, played adorably by Bard artistic director Christopher Gaze's pooch Mason.
Wales Online
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
900-year-old ‘haunted' house in Porthcawl some are 'too scared' to get close to
900-year-old 'haunted' house in Porthcawl some are 'too scared' to get close to One person who visited recently said they were 'too scared' to get closer because of tales of hauntings at this incredible slice of history Sker House was originally built as a monastic grange of the Cistercian order over 900 years ago, just outside Porthcawl (Image: Getty ) A recent TikTok video has brought fresh attention to one of Wales' most mysterious historic buildings - Sker House, located just outside the seaside town of Porthcawl. The video, which shows the property in daylight, has sparked renewed interest in the site's long history and its reputation for being haunted. Sker House is around 900 years old. It began as a monastic grange built by Cistercian monks from Neath Abbey, who used the surrounding land for farming. Over time, the original structure was largely lost, but in the late sixteenth century it was rebuilt into the Elizabethan-style house that still stands today. TikToker Christopher Evans, who shares videos about places to visit, where to eat and what to do in Wales paid a visit, walking towards the building in the bright sunshine. Approaching the house, he said: 'I come in peace', and said he was "too scared" to get closer. He also shared that he had heard rumours that the ghost of a woman who had died from a broken heart had been spotted in the area. Love dreamy Welsh homes? Sign up to our newsletter here sker house Zooming in to the bright yellow building, he said: 'It literally looks so weird.' He later added: 'I'd love a little tour of that house but, no actually I regret saying that.' Article continues below Content cannot be displayed without consent The house is thought to be privately owned and not open to the public, but is clearly still a point of fascination for people, as many have been flocking to the comments section of Christopher's video to discuss their thoughts. One person said: 'I was too scared to go up to the building. Much braver than me!!" Someone else added: 'If I had a car and drove I would go round the uk - mostly Wales, exploring abandoned houses and places.' The light-hearted clip also seemed to confuse some people who watched it, as another person noted: 'How can you be scared when you're a mile from the house?' Much of the medieval layout is now gone, but elements of the earlier building may remain in nearby structures like the medieval barn, Tŷ yr Ychen, which is a Grade II listed building according to information online. Sker House itself is now a Grade I listed building and considered to be one of the most significant examples of Elizabethan architecture in South Wales. Over the years, the house has been associated with lots of ghost stories and local folklore - some linked to R.D. Blackmore's 19th-century novel, The Maid of Sker, which drew inspiration from the house and its setting. Another novel called Sker House by Ronald Welch was also published in 1955. Article continues below So whether or not you believe in ghosts, there's no denying it has been leaving a lasting impression on people visiting or those from around the area based on the reaction it has been receiving from people over the years.
