Law's Hamlet to Go From London to Broadway

Movie star's Shakespeare turn gets strong notices

(NEWSER) - Jude Law took to the stage last night for the opening performance of Hamlet in London, and newspapers were largely impressed by the actor's take on the melancholy Dane. In the Telegraph, Charles Spencer writes that Law showed "rare vulnerability and emotional openness" in Shakespeare's toughest role. Dressed in black jeans, a worn T-shirt, and often near tears, Law "joins the modern pantheon of spellbinding sweet princes." More»

Holmes could pursue theater across the pond: Cruise

(NEWSER) - Europe is fast becoming the new Beverly Hills, with Tom Cruise saying last night he may move back to London. The Valkyrie star lived there for 2 years with ex Nicole Kidman, and it seems he still remembers the lingo: “Katie was absolutely brilliant on Broadway,” Cruise tells the Mirror of wife Holmes, “and to work in the West End would be a joy.” More»

Concert pianist left skull to theater

(NEWSER) - A concert pianist has appeared on stage in a 22-performance run of Hamlet—26 years after his death. André Tchaikowsky, a Polish Jew who was smuggled out of Warsaw as a child of 7, left his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company upon his death in 1982. It was finally used in the graveyard scene as the unearthed skull of Yorick, the jester, by actor David Tennant, in performances in Stratford, the Times of London reports. More»

(AP) - Archeologists think they have found the theater where Romeo and Juliet debuted and where William Shakespeare himself may have trodden the boards. The possible foundations of what is known as simply "the Theatre" were unearthed by builders excavating the London site—a vacant garage—for another structure. Museum archaeologists were called to the location and had a eureka moment when they noticed the angled walls common in the 16th century. More»

RSC mounts all 8 history plays with one cast in London

(NEWSER) - Shakespeare's eight history plays cover 118 years of English royal succession, but one troop of actors is going to present the entire span in just two months. The Royal Shakespeare Company has decamped from Stratford-upon-Avon to London, where they are mounting all the plays in repertory on a single set. Bloomberg reports on the unprecedented project, which calls on a cast of 34 to master 528 roles. More»