A Midsummer Night’s Dream review – nightmarish take brings the brutal undercurrents roaring to the surface

A Midsummer Night’s Dream review – nightmarish take brings the brutal undercurrents roaring to the surface

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London Director Holly Race Roughan transposes the summer tale into the darkest of winters as the fairies’ feud over the stolen child leaves the snow smeared with blood Puck snatches the lovers’ breath from their bodies. They stop mid-sentence, floating under his spell, lanterns shining in the frozen night. Sergo Vares’ malevolent clown, dressed in half tux, half tutu, has chaos in his veins. In this wintery co-production between Headlong and the Globe, comedy and horror sit cheek by jowl, as director Holly Race Roughan conjures a nightmarish take on Shakespeare’s classic dream. Vares’ crow-like Puck, a nimble shapeshifter, may be the face of the dark deeds in this frosty landscape, but Michael Marcus’s Oberon is the vengeful controller, his every action designed to get his hands on the young girl (Pria Kalsi) in Titania’s care. By shifting the show’s centre of gravity to revolve around this changeling, Roughan brings the play’s brutal undercurrents roaring to the surface. Continue reading...

Injuries & suspensions update for Gameweek 13: Latest news on Antoine Semenyo, Hugo Ekitike and more

Injuries & suspensions update for Gameweek 13: Latest news on Antoine Semenyo, Hugo Ekitike and more

DREAM TEAM brings you all the latest injury, suspension and availability news ahead of Gameweek 13. Antoine Semenyo will be available to face Sunderland on Saturday, providing he does not aggravate anything in today's training session. The Bournemouth star, who features in 15.4% of teams, boasts the joint-highest points-per-game average among Dream Team midfielders. Justin...

Rebel nuns who busted out of Austrian care home win reprieve – for now

Rebel nuns who busted out of Austrian care home win reprieve – for now

Trio given leave to stay in their abandoned convent near Salzburg until further notice, church officials say Three octogenarian nuns who gained a global following after breaking out of their care home and moving back to their abandoned convent near Salzburg have been given leave to stay in the nunnery “until further notice”, church officials have said. The rebel sisters – Bernadette, 88, Regina, 86, and Rita, 82, all former teachers at the school adjacent to their convent – broke back into their old home of Goldenstein Castle in Elsbethen in September in defiance of their spiritual elders. Continue reading...