Performance ****    -    Sound ****

"The first disc in this set mixes music, brief excerpts from Shakespeare’s plays (some recorded during public performances) and excerpts from contemporary documents, which are read in what is believed to be close approximation of Elizabethan English. I don’t doubt the authenticity of the accent, but ’tis pity it often sounds disconcertingly like Mummerset. The speeches from the plays are, however, given in standard modern pronunciation by a distinguished cast including Mark Rylance and John McEnery. The musicians are an equally illustrious crew, including William Lyons, Keith McGowan and Vivien Ellis. There could hardly be a better aural souvenir of a visit to the Globe, but the set also stands up on its own as a superbly-performed compilation of Elizabethan and Jacobean music. with a varied, well-chosen selection of enchanting pieces that, on disc 2, sets out to illustrate the dramatic (and, sometimes, occult) significance of certain instruments, as well as the increasingly popular influence of Spanish and Eastern European music. A minimum of 25 per cent of the profits go to the Shakespeare Globe Trust."

Barry Witherden

"... it becomes possible for a susceptible theatregoer to belive that it is in his own mind that has been given life on the Globe’s open air, Elizabethan-style style."
 

"Cheering for Shakespeare? Whooping at classical theatre?! Am I in the right place? I certainly am. .. this ’original practices production’ -the costumes, music and so on are all Elizabethan - is Shakespeare as it should be: funny, lively, profound, surprising. Of course the show is perfectly suited to this dynamic of auditioria, and a young and unpretentious crowd is soon hanging on it’s every word. The crowd roars its approval. I’m sure you will, too."