On the 5th November, 2018, I posted to Facebook:
“So of Shakespeare’s plays, I have seen A Midsummer Night’s Dream (aged 11), Macbeth (aged 15) and Hamlet (aged 16, 25, 26, 27, 29 (twice) – I’m really into Hamlet), and I feel like I am missing out on lots of culture other than The Lion King (based on Hamlet). So, from 2019, I’m going to try to see all 37 on stage. It’s a years-long commitment because obscure ones like Henry VIII or Coriolanus are… rarely performed, but that’s the challenge.
Would anyone (presumably London-based but if not I like your style) like to join a WhatsApp group to join me and keep our eyes out for the obscure ones and great productions of the common ones, because I am absolutely going to have to schlep out to Warwickshire to see the RSC for a bunch of them and people are welcome to utilise my car to live such good dreams as possess our fancy.”
A dozen people replied, the WhatsApp group was created and we have been at it ever since.
Rules:
- It has to be a live performance, not a film.
- Live broadcasts are ok. Cinema showings of live broadcasts are ok.
- Abridged performances, “in the style of”, and strange mash-ups do not count.
| Comedies | Histories | Tragedies | |||
| The Tempest | King John | 30/11/2019 | Troilus and Cressida | 14/11/18 | |
| Two Gentlemen of Verona | Richard II | 17/4/19 | Coriolanus | 14/3/20 | |
| The Merry Wives of Windsor | 2/1/19 | Henry IV Part 1 | 22/5/19 | Titus Andronicus | 25/3/23 |
| Measure for Measure | 31/7/19 | Henry IV Part 2 | 10/7/19 | Romeo and Juliet | 23/9/21 |
| The Comedy of Errors | 20/8/19 | Henry V | 17/9/19 | Timon of Athens | 20/11/19 |
| Much Ado About Nothing | 10/5/22 | Henry VI Part 1 | Julius Caesar | 3/5/22 | |
| Love’s Labour Lost | Henry VI Part 2 | Macbeth | 18/9/19
28/10/21 |
||
| A Midsummer Night’s Dream | 20/7/19 | Henry VI Part 3 | Hamlet | 15/3/18
30/7/21 |
|
| The Merchant of Venice | Richard III | 26/3/19 | King Lear | 25/11/18 | |
| As You Like It | Henry VIII | 20/5/22 | Othello | 4/1/23 | |
| The Taming of the Shrew | 5/6/19 | Edward III | Anthony and Cleopatra | ||
| All’s Well That Ends Well | Cymbeline | ||||
| Twelfth Night | 13/8/19 | ||||
| The Winter’s Tale | |||||
| Pericles, Prince of Tyre | 9/5/19 | ||||
| The Two Noble Kinsmen | |||||