Polly Findlay
RSC’s Merchant of Venice is full of puzzling ornaments and accents
The BBC announces Merchant of Venice as if it were a Hollywood blockbuster. ‘In the melting pot of Venice, trade…
So bad I wanted to escape: An Octoroon reviewed
Intriguing word, ‘octoroon’. Does it mean an eight-sided almond-flavoured cakelet? No, it’s a person whose ancestry is one eighth black.…
Family planning
Beginning starts at the end. A Crouch End party has just finished and the sitting room is a waste tip…
Why are Shakespeare’s women so feeble?
Shakespeare did not give his female characters pivotal roles, but some of his contemporaries did, as Lloyd Evans discovers
