Shake & tumble

Kenneth Branagh as Prospero in The Tempest, directed by Richard Eyre. Photo by Johan Persson

Trailer for Aneil Karia’s adaptation of Hamlet, starring Riz Ahmed, set within London’s elite South Asian community.

With theaters shut during the COVID-19 pandemic, two jobless actors, Sam and Mark, are uncertain about their futures—finding solace in the virtual chaos of Grand Theft Auto Online. Desperate for purpose, they decide to stage Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the ultra-violent world of their favourite game.

Vale Maggie Smith, a legend of stage and screen!

Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Emmy winners Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Oscar nominee LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah), Chris Messina (Argo), Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs), Danny Huston (The Constant Gardener), Matthew Jacobs (Bar America), Rhys Coiro (Entourage) and Stephen Dorff (Blade) have joined Academy Award winners Al Pacino and Jessica Chastain in Bernard Rose’s Lear Rex, a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear.

From West Side Story, a musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, to Romeo and Juliet proper: weird casting choice, with Rachel Zegler as Juliet. The Jack Antonoff connection, makes me think this will be &Juliet for the Taylor Swift generation.

Coming in 2025: Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal will co-star in a new Broadway revival of Othello. Tony winner Kenny Leon will direct, with Washington playing the title role opposite Gyllenhaal as Iago.