Summer shows

Exams will soon be over 

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Yes really! And the rest of the summer term is a great time to let all you have accumulated over your year(s) spent studying AS/A2 Level English Literature sink in.

Often this is the time when, as students, you suddenly ‘get’ what the requirements of A Levels are all about, rather than feeling out of your depth after the relative shallows of GCSE English. You stop floundering and start swimming. And because of this, you might actually start enjoying literature more!

If you have been studying a play text in the past months (or are soon about to) the easing of pressure after the exam period is also a great time to catch a live production of your drama text. Unfortunately the great majority of them are in London, but with longer days and the summer holidays beckoning, perhaps you could make a day of it in the capital.

Shakespeare

Everyone covers the bard.

If your syllabus includes a tragedy see if you can get to:

• Hamlet, at the Barbican Theatre, London, 25.8 – 31.10.15 (with Benedict Cumberbatch)
• Macbeth, at the Young Vic, London, from 3.12.15 - 3.1.16
• Othello, at the RSC, Stratford, is more imminent, running from 4.6 – 28.8.15

If you are studying a problem play, like Measure for Measure, you will benefit from seeing one of these productions:

• Measure for Measure, at the Globe Theatre, London, from 20.6 – 17.10.15
• The Merchant of Venice, at the RSC, Stratford, between 15.6 – 2.9.15
• Measure for Measure, at the Young Vic, London, from 8.10 – 7.11.15

Perhaps you are studying a Romance play like The Tempest:

• At the new Sam Wannamaker indoor theatre (next to London’s Globe Theatre), a companion piece, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, will be showing from 25.11.15 – 21.4.16

Meanwhile, a Shakespearean comedy on offer is:

• As You Like It, at the Globe Theatre, London, from 15.5 – 5.9.15

Jacobean drama

Shakespeare’s contemporaries were creating a vivid range of comedies and tragedies, sometimes blurring the two so that the humour is dark and there are flashes of laughter amongst the gore. What’s it like on stage? Check out three productions at the Swan Theatre, the RSC’s more intimate venue:

• The Jew of Malta, from 1.6 – 8.9.15
• Love’s Sacrifice, from 6.6 – 24.6.15
• Volpone, from 3.7 – 12.9.15

Comedies of manners

Before the syllabuses change, current students may well be studying a seventeenth or eighteenth century ‘Comedy of Manners’ such as She Stoops to Conquer, The School for Scandal, The Rivals or The Way of the World. If you want to see how the style of writing translates onto stage, and how the comedy works, why not go to see

• The Beaux Stratagem, at the National Theatre, London, from 3.6-31.8.15
• The School for Scandal, at the Park Theatre, London, from 12.6 – 7.7.15.

Mid twentieth century

There’s hope for those of you living in the north of England or Scotland. Two productions are coming up from autumn onwards:

• Waiting for Godot, at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, from 19.9 – 10.10.15
• The Crucible, at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, from 18.2 – 19.3.16
• In London you can catch the RSC’s Death of a Salesman, currently running until 18.7.15

If you know of other productions around the regions, please let us know – email info@crossref-it.info.

Above all, enjoy the experience and - after all your hard work - remind yourself why you took English in the first place…