When she was offered the role of matriarch Irene Raymond in EastEnders, Roberta Taylor told producers it didn’t matter what the character was like as long as she didn’t have to wear a cardigan. After three years (1997–2000) of melodramatic plots (Irene was an ex-wife and a toyboy lover, a grocer and an estranged mother… Read More »
What a shame, Sir John Falstaff. The Royal Shakespeare Company has ruled that Prince Hal’s buxom companion was the victim of “bullying in the form of body shaming” in its new production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. Falstaff is one of the Bard’s most objectionable characters, entertaining disreputable people in dodgy taverns and embezzling… Read More »
Actor Ian Gelder, who has died of cancer aged 74, was a notable supporting actor for decades at the National Theater and Royal Shakespeare Company in the West End and leading fringe theatres, before finding fame playing Shakespeare’s brother Kevan Lannister on television. Tywin (Charles Dance), the fearsome patriarch plotting a Shakespearean power grab, in… Read More »
Queen Camilla photographed with stars including Joanna Lumley, Floella Benjamin and Twiggy Lawson – CHRIS JACKSON/AFP More than a dozen “Women and Hamlets” joined in to toast the Queen’s health, while a super-sized get-well card was sent to the King from leading figures in British theatre. The Queen attended the Shakespeare celebration at Grosvenor House… Read More »
There was something big, big and embracing about actor Joss Ackland, who has died aged 95. He was a fixture of British films for decades and a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company Old Vic; He played Falstaff at the opening of the RSC. A production of Henry IV, The First and Second Parts at… Read More »