Dr. Benjamin Broadribb
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benbroadribb.bsky.social
Dr. Benjamin Broadribb
@benbroadribb.bsky.social
940 followers 1.2K following 210 posts
Performance Reviews Editor for Shakespeare Bulletin | Shakespeare on screen(s) | Shakespop | metamodernism | performance | adaptation | cinema | theatre | he/him/his | Man with a Movie Compulsion https://manwithamoviecompulsion.substack.com
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Reposted by Dr. Benjamin Broadribb
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Laurie Maguire reviews the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2025 production of Twelfth Night, dir. Prasanna Puwanarajah.

🎭: www.rsc.org.uk/twelfth-nigh...

📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/971403

📷: Helen Murray
An image of Feste (Michael Grady-Hall) in a puffy, black and yellow clown outfit, with the text “Viola’s story had a happy ending only because it took place in the world of fiction, a world where “tempests are kind, and salt waves fresh in love” (3.4.388). In the production’s masterstroke, the play was framed as a Christmas story told by Feste.” over a blue background with the SB logo.
November 6, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Reposted by Dr. Benjamin Broadribb
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Hanh Bui reviews the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2024 production of Pericles, dir. Tamara Harvey.

🎭: www.rsc.org.uk/pericles/pas...

📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/971401

📷: Johan Persson
An image of Pericles (Alfred Enoch) cradling Thaisa (Leah Haile) with the text “[W]hile the production did not directly register the world “right now,” it vastly succeeded in bringing to life Harvey’s vision of one family’s resilience against monumental, almost mythical odds. Through a combination of expert staging, design, and performances, this Pericles illuminated the human drive to persevere—and the equally compelling urge to share such stories of survival.” over a blue background with the SB logo.
November 5, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Reposted by Dr. Benjamin Broadribb
shaxbull.bsky.social
Scott Shepherd reviews Oh! Ophelia, Ophelia, presented by Choi Sung-ok’s Meta-dance Project as part of the 2024 K Stage Festa at Myeongdong Theater.

📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/971399

📷: Sang Hoon Ok
An image of Ophelia (Lee Ji-soo) dancing, with Hamlet (Kim Jae-min) behind her, with the text “[...] Oh! Ophelia, Ophelia offered an intricate version of Hamlet—a delicate rewriting which revealed a deep understanding of the play—and provided a more enjoyable experience than many conventional performances of Hamlet that I have attended.” over a blue background with the SB logo.
November 4, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Dr. Benjamin Broadribb
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David Cottis reviews Half Trick’s 2024 production of Antonio’s Revenge, dir. Courtney Bassett.

🎭: halftrick.com#antonio

📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

📷: Eliza Roberts
An image of Pandulpho (Caden Scott) and Antonio (Juliet Gentle) tying up Piero (Courtney Bassett) with the text “Overall, Half Trick made the case for rescuing the play from its “rarely touched” status, giving us exactly the kind of production for which the Fringe exists—rough around the edges, but with its gory, beating heart in the right place.” over a blue background with the SB logo.
November 3, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Reposted by Dr. Benjamin Broadribb
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Suzy Lawrence reviews the 2024 production of Kiss Me, Kate at the Barbican Theatre, dir. Bartlett Sher.

🎭: kissmekatemusical.com

📰: muse.jhu.edu/article/971398

📷: Johann Persson
An image of Bill Calhoun as Luciento (Charlie Stemp) standing on a table with members of the company while Lois Lane as Bianca (Georgina Onuorah swirls her skirts, with the text “Overall, therefore, I felt that, while it succeeded in Sher’s aim to be “super-fun”, Kiss Me, Kate fell short of the director’s expressed desire to find its “core humanity” [...] The desire to end the show with a romantic reunion thereby overrode any possibility that a happy ending for a strong and independent Lilli could have been one where, having walked off the stage, she never came back at all.” over a blue background with the SB logo.
October 31, 2025 at 4:38 PM
benbroadribb.bsky.social
This piece has had a long(ish) journey to publication, starting its life as one of the first chapters I wrote for my doctoral thesis. Thank you to everyone who has read, listened, and given feedback over the years, and to Emma Smith for continuing to be a generous, supportive and insightful editor.
Part of the first page of "The BBC's Television Adaptations of Henry VI and Britain's National Identity Crises" by Benjamin Broadribb, published in Shakespeare Survey 78. The front cover of Shakespeare Survey 78, subtitled "Shakespeare and Communities". The cover features a photograph of Katherine Pearce playing Puck in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2024/2025 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck wears a blue costume of a shirt, braces and knee-length shorts, and stands with arms raised in a ballet-dance-like pose. There is a large turquoise circular shape above them. The stage floor is red and has a thin layer of mist. At the top of the stage are dozens of round paper lanterns coloured red, orange and yellow. The background is black apart from the turquoise shape.
October 19, 2025 at 2:17 PM
benbroadribb.bsky.social
Best of all, this issue is published Open Access, so all of these reviews are available to anyone who wants to read them - no institutional access necessary! 🙌
October 10, 2025 at 5:22 PM
benbroadribb.bsky.social
I'll be there with @gemmaallred.bsky.social @edelsemple.bsky.social to run our seminar on Shakespeare's Tragedies and their Twenty-First-Century Reverberations. Come and join us in Verona next summer!

#WSC2026 #Shakespeare
October 9, 2025 at 10:04 AM
benbroadribb.bsky.social
I'm so glad it's not just me Greg! The final third of Weapons in particular felt like a really unpleasant slap in the face from Cregger, with some uncomfortably problematic elements woven in too.
September 16, 2025 at 1:26 PM