Wednesday, September 19, 2012

"What You Will" Reviews


"For any Londoners who missed Rees’s 2010 outing in Waiting for Godot opposite Sir Ian McKellen, this may be the first opportunity in a long while to watch this likeable, vital actor in anything more substantial than The West Wing or Grey’s Anatomy. It’s a chance worth taking. This may not be the didactic equal of Callow’s The Man From Stratford, but it’s a lot more fun and a good deal shorter – surely both virtues of which Shakespeare himself would have approved."

Alexandra Coghlan reviews Roger's show for the Arts Desk.

Michael Billington reviews the show for The Guardian:

"As anyone who saw him play the title role in Nicholas Nickleby will recall, Rees had a great gift for physical speed and swiftness of thought on stage. Lithe as ever in his middle years, he retains those attributes. Even if he occasionally lapses into the odd habit of unearned emphasis on a single word ("But, soft, what light through yonder window breaks"), it is still a pleasure to hear him speaking Shakespeare's words with darting urgency. He is also very moving when he talks about his late father's impact on his Hamlet, and very funny on his apprenticeship in the back row of the Shakespearean chorus (his "four years as a mime artist with the RSC"). It is pleasant to spend time in Rees's engaging company, but I yearned to know more about how the modern actor gets to grips with playing Shakespeare."

The full review is at: The Guardian.

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