Categories
Early Modern and Shakespeare Life writing, Creative writing and Performance

Theatre Review: Much Ado About Nothing by the Jamie Lloyd Company, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Izzi is a Master’s student on the Shakespeare Studies MA at King’s and the Globe Theatre, having completed her undergraduate degree in Classics and English at the University of Oxford. As her MA suggests, she loves all things Shakespeare and early modern drama, and she regularly watches and reviews modern productions of Shakespeare plays. Although you wouldn’t know it from how much she loved Much Ado, Izzi’s research focuses on bodily violence on the early modern stage.

Izzi has written the below review for the most recent production of Much Ado About Nothing (2025): Jamie Lloyd Company, Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

Verdict: 5 stars

Coming off the back of his rather dark and pessimistic production of The Tempest, Jamie Lloyd’s Much Ado About Nothing couldn’t be more refreshingly different. The bleak and barren sand dunes of Prospero’s island have been swapped for a stage covered in bright pink confetti, with a massive pink heart floating at the back of the stage. Lloyd re-imagines Shakespeare’s Sicilian comedy in a world of 90s disco, glittery jumpsuits, and massive Masked Singer-cum-Disneyland headpieces to absolutely fabulous success.

While in his Tempest the casting of Sigourney Weaver as a female Prospero was somewhat disappointing, Lloyd’s choice of Hollywood A-listers in the form of Marvel’s Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell is inspired. The pair’s flirtatious repartee during the opening scenes perfectly captures the constant exchange of digs between Beatrice and Benedick, Messina’s most eligible bachelor and bachelorette. Both make perfect use of their Hollywood heartthrob status when appealing to the audience: Hiddleston delivers Benedick’s iconically self-centred line ‘I am loved of all ladies’ to rapturous applause and wolf-whistles, and the two of them seem to delight in dancing suggestively together wherever possible. The pair’s physical comedy during their respective trickery scenes is delightful, with Hiddleston’s attempts to hide himself with armfuls of pink confetti bringing the house down.

The production is high energy, high camp, and high fun-factor, motivated by a soundtrack of 90’s bangers, often sung by Mason Alexander-Park’s Margaret, accompanied by group dance numbers. That is, until a poignant switch in mood created by Claudio’s bitter condemnation of Hero at the altar for her alleged infidelity, egged on by Don John, played by Tim Steed. Steed brilliantly approaches the tricky John the Bastard plotline by showing himself consciously adopting the persona of a vaudevillian villain, complete with pantomime ‘mwah-hah-hah-hah’, in order to wreak havoc in Don Pedro’s court. His seemingly frivolous mischief, however, creates terrible consequences for Mara Huf’s Hero, whose speech in defence of her honour is powerfully resonant in a post Me Too world. This tricky scene, which can leave a bitter taste in the mouth of a modern audience when the couple reconcile, was expertly navigated: I was pleasantly surprised to find myself genuinely happy for Hero and Claudio when they reunite at the end of the play alongside the loved-up Beatrice and Benedick.

Jamie Lloyd’s Much Ado About Nothing is an absolute must-see if you’re a fan of Shakespeare, a fan of theatre, a fan of disco, a fan of Tom Hiddleston, a fan of pink… the list goes on.

By Izzi Strevens

Categories
Arts and Humanities

The silent death of Literature: can we resurrect the written word?

Dahlia is a first-year Literature student at KCL, who chose the field due to a deep passion for prose, particularly from the A-Level syllabus. As a tutor, Dahlia often hears students express dissatisfaction with their texts, complaining about how dull they find them and how eager they are to finish the course. Recognising this, Dahlia decided to write this piece as a re-evaluation of the subject, aiming to show that Literature is not as boring as it is often perceived to be.

Literature is an art form, a way to establish our voices through characters, plots, settings and critiques. Shakespeare, Dickens, Fitzgerald – even Chaucer – were all critical masterminds who established the foundations of the Western literary culture and its works. Some of us may hate the complexity of Shakespeare’s unshakeable tragic heroes or Dickens’ monotonous, detached voice, but we cannot deny the huge impact they placed on us.  

Firstly, Shakespeare’s innovative use of the iambic pentameter, the traditionally romantic sonnet and his subversion of comedies were all revolutionary in developing the English language and structure. His exploration of identity and power in Othello and Hamlet have political relevance today – as the issues in this play such as, authority, manipulation, legitimacy and struggles of self-perception mirror modern issues.   

Additionally, Dickens’ blatant social critique of Victorian England helps us to understand the dire situation of the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840). Poverty, the alienation of women, child labour – all themes which are relevant today. In looking at these great authors and their own political, social, and cultural contexts we gain an insight into the past.  We can understand the past through literature; it can provide us a time machine – even into the future.  

Fitzgerald’s prolific The Great Gatsby has been watched by everyone at least once – the yearning, the waiting for an unrequited love, the desire for materialism over intimacy – common tropes we associate with even the rom-com genre. Literature in this sense has had a profound impact not only on philosophical thought but on media and physical art forms.  

As a Literature student myself, I found my voice in the A-level texts which focused on women in society. The arduous algebra in Mathematics couldn’t provide me the voice I craved. Sitting in those GCSE Maths classes bored me, solving equations and sticking to a set rule bored me. Nothing was inventive, new, radical in thought, every question had been answered before. Yet the English lessons where we spoke about politics, psychology, history, philosophy invigorated me. No longer was I this slave to the glorified STEM subjects and a mindless yes/no debate, but I was able to establish my voice through Literature. Debating and conversing with my classmates about the key questions: what’s the overall message, how can this relate nowadays? How would it look if it was adapted into modern times?  

Mathematics and the STEMs doesn’t help us develop analytical thought, literature does. Literature isn’t as alienating and out-of-touch as we pose it to be. Literature allows us to explore the human condition, reflect back on the past in the present and create culturally significant moments. For many, literature is a way out of the mundane, technological world and an immersive experience into a new one.  

When was the last time you read a novel that wasn’t part of the syllabus? A book you genuinely sat down and enjoyed? Literature for far too long has been branded a feminine subject, a subject seen as child’s play. Women have accounted for two-thirds of the degree recipients at the master’s level since the early 1980s and at the bachelor’s level (Gender distribution of degrees in English Language and Literature). The irony of course being the Bronte sisters, who used a male pseudonym to be taken seriously…  

The love for literature and classical authors have sadly diminished. With the new age of social media and technology, our attention spans are poor and we often watch movies to replace the entertainment literature once provided. Literature was a chance to escape the real world, get stuck into a book, travel to new worlds, and reimagine your life. Now it’s a chore from our English teachers to read a copy of An Inspector Calls rather than a thrilling experience, a social critique of the world we live in.  It has become a subject everyone resents.  

Just 2 in 5 (43.4%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said they enjoyed reading in their free time in 2023. This is the lowest level since we first asked the question in 2005.2 (Children and young people’s reading in 2023, 4th September 2023), Texts nowadays are not appreciated for their culture, their literary invention. Instead, the education system strips down a book to a few themes for GCSEs and removes any sense of humanity it could provide. Whilst adult fantasy soared by an impressive 85.2% over the first six months of 2023, primarily fuelled by heightened interest in the romantasy genre, classical books are slowly being forgotten and seen as too complicated and uninspiring. (Fantasy Drives Print Book Sales Surge in 2024: Publishers See Potential Turnaround, July 9th 2024) 

For many book lovers, the Edward vs. Jacob saga in Twilight took centre stage, overshadowing the deeper moral boundaries and philosophical questions that Shakespeare challenges in his works. Educators have therefore lost the passion and interest in Literature. The mark schemes, the A0s, the set 5 paragraph length, the forceful use of PEEL in GCSEs have sucked the life out of these radical and engaging books. We need to rethink the way literature is thought, the mark scheme doesn’t embrace creativity, nuance and invention, it reduces students to a number. Whereby their ideas and originality are rejected based on the status quo. 

Written by Dahila Farzi

 

 

References:

Sciences, Academy of Arts And. “Gender Distribution of Degrees in English Language and Literature.” American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 17 Apr. 2016, www.amacad.org/humanities-indicators/higher-education/gender-distribution-degrees-english-language-and-literature. 

“Children and Young People’s Reading in 2023.” National Literacy Trust, 5 Nov. 2024, literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/children-and-young-peoples-reading-in-2023. 

Jones, Kiefer. “Fantasy Drives Print Book Sales Surge in 2024: Publishers See Potential Turnaround.” Books&Review,9July 2024, www.booksnreview.com/articles/19721/20240709/fantasy-drives-print-book-sales-surge-2024-publishers-see-potential.htm. 

Categories
Gender and Sexuality

The ‘Why’ of Modern Feminism: A Commentary On The Growth Of Social Media as a Hotbed for Misogyny

Caitlyn Jones is a passionate, aspiring, academic and feminist activist, who is in her first-year studying English at King’s College London. Drawing from her personal experiences as a woman and a keen observer of history, she explores the ongoing struggles women face in the realms of self-expression, body autonomy, and societal expectations. Check out an extract of her work below:

One thing I have come to realise from studying the issues surrounding women’s rights throughout history, from being a social media user, and, crucially, from being a woman myself, is that we never seem to be able to, for lack of an academic term, catch a break.

Perhaps one might be of the opinion that the online world would be a safer opportunity for self-expression – as we are intangible and therefore out of reach to any potential perpetrators. Sadly, this could not be further from the truth. It is important to be absolutely clear: the issue with gender dynamics on social media isn’t about women posting pictures of themselves in a bikini while enjoying their holidays or showing off a new dress that falls above the knee. In doing so, they are showcasing their confidence, beauty, and pride in their own bodies – just as a man does when he posts a picture of himself shirtless at the gym. As a relatively well-rounded human, I fail to see the overarching problem with any of these scenarios. Returning to the former two examples, however, the problem lies entirely with those who choose to berate the woman for ‘showing too much skin’ or parading around as a ‘slut.’ Both men and women have been guilty of this offence. From observing myriad comments under these kinds of posts, I have drawn several rather unsurprising yet deeply prevalent conclusions as to their motives – conclusions that still allude my understanding as a social media, and, more importantly, as an all-round decent human.

More often than not, these comments are blatantly underscored with airs of jealousy, insecurity or intimidation. In many cases, it is a hideous integration of all three. And to be blunt, neither I nor any other social media user I’ve spoken to in relation to this essay have encountered comments of the same objectifying and nefarious nature under a shirtless man’s post. Therein lies one of the most terrifying and problematic social paradoxes in our community: there exists a certain social aversion, or rather a subconscious fear of female sexuality, or perhaps more specifically, a fear of a woman’s confidence in her own sexuality. The reason for this fear I cannot explain – it is not my job to do that. But as a feminist activist, it is my job to point out its dangerous and, in certain cases, fatal consequences.

From this fear of a woman’s confidence in her body and sexuality arises aggression and hostility towards its expression – particularly through social media posts. The search for evidence of this was unfortunately not a difficult one – this part of my research was far more enduring than enjoyable. In truth, I am not completely sure if ‘research’ is the correct word for it. All I had to do was scroll through my ‘For You’ page on Instagram, where a woman in a bikini or a shorter dress would appear, and open the comments section. The most common statements I discovered were along the lines of ‘put some clothes on,’ ‘wh0re,’ and ‘wasted goods.’ From here, I began to see and acknowledge the fact that there is, without any doubt, a war on women within the online world as well as the ‘real’ one.

Further proof of this can be examined through social media users who choose to exploit the platform as an opportunity to spout hate to and about women. I am sure many of you will be at least somewhat aware of the so-called ‘podcast bros’ or ‘alpha males’ who dominate many a young person’s social media feed with their preaching of shockingly degrading comments concerning women’s sexualities, bodies and life choices.

Many of these men have argued that it is the rise of ‘modern feminism’ that has enabled an insurgence of women showcasing their pride in their bodies and sexuality through social media and beyond – and I could not agree more. However, the crucial difference between myself and the social media users who I speak of – is that they choose to view it as an entirely negative phenomenon. The most problematic aspect of the label of ‘modern feminism’ lies in its suggestion that its definition has been somehow co-opted over time to suit the interests of misandrists and corrupt the values of femininity. Allow me to make one thing abundantly clear: the definition of feminism along with everything it stands for has always remained a constant. It has never changed. The aims and intentions of feminism has always been to advocate for the woman’s choice to make her own decisions concerning her body, her money, her education and her personal life, and to ensure that she both obtains and maintains access to the same human and civil rights as her male counterpart. Women who wish for a world where women are superior to men are misandrists, not feminists, even if they feel they identify as the latter. There are many people who may identify with a certain faith but repeatedly reject and contravene the laws and values of that same faith in their daily lives – perhaps at times without knowing it. The very same logic applies to this situation. There is an ocean between the world of feminism and misandry, just as there is an ocean between the world of feminism and misogyny.

Written by Caitlin Jones. 

 

 

Categories
Contemporary

London’s Literary Landmarks: Exploring the City Through Literature

London has a rich literary history, with its streets and landmarks closely tied to the stories and characters that have shaped English literature. For students at KCL, the city offers a unique opportunity to step into the worlds of the authors and texts studied on campus. Here is a guide to some of London’s most iconic literary landmarks, perfect for a weekend exploration or an afternoon of inspiration.

1. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre No literary pilgrimage in London would be complete without a visit to Shakespeare’s Globe. Located on the South Bank, this faithful reconstruction of the original Elizabethan playhouse is a testament to the enduring legacy of William Shakespeare. Whether you attend a performance or take a guided tour, the Globe offers a glimpse into the theatrical world of the Bard and the vibrant cultural life of early modern London.

2. Charles Dickens Museum For fans of Victorian literature, the Charles Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury is a must-visit. Housed in the author’s former residence at 48 Doughty Street, the museum preserves the rooms where Dickens wrote and lived. As you walk through the house, you’ll see personal artifacts, manuscripts, and first editions that bring to life the creator of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations.

3. Keats House In Hampstead, you’ll find Keats House, the home of Romantic poet John Keats. This Regency villa is where Keats wrote some of his most famous works, including “Ode to a Nightingale.” The tranquil gardens and period interiors make it easy to imagine the poet’s creative process. Regular events, such as poetry readings and workshops, are held at the house and serve as the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in his work.

4. Bloomsbury and the Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury district is synonymous with the Bloomsbury Group, an influential collective of writers, artists, and thinkers that included Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, and Lytton Strachey. Strolling through Gordon Square or visiting the nearby British Library offers a sense of the intellectual ferment that characterized this group. Don’t miss the chance to explore Woolf’s connections to the area, as her work often reflects the cultural and social shifts of early 20th-century London.

5. Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey’s Poet’s Corner is a hallowed space where some of English literature’s greatest figures are commemorated. From Geoffrey Chaucer to T.S. Eliot, this corner of the Abbey celebrates centuries of literary achievement. As you stand among the memorials, it’s hard not to feel a profound connection to the writers who have shaped the English language.

6. Sherlock Holmes Museum Fans of detective fiction will enjoy a visit to 221B Baker Street, the fictional home of Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective Sherlock Holmes. The museum recreates Holmes’ Victorian sitting room, complete with period furnishings and references to his famous cases. It’s a fun, immersive experience for anyone who loves a good mystery.

Exploring these landmarks not only deepens your appreciation for the texts and authors you study but also allows you to see the city through their eyes. So, why not take a break from the library and embark on your own literary adventure through London? Who knows—you might just find inspiration for your next essay or creative project.

Categories
Life writing, Creative writing and Performance

Unleashing Creativity: Undergraduate Creative Writing at Kings

Happy New Year to everyone at King’s Department of English! Over the festive holidays, Kings students have been hard at work on assignments, but they’ve also been developing their own unique projects, using the skills they’re honing through their studies of literature.

We were absolutely delighted to be contacted by Vaani, a first-year undergraduate studying English Literature at King’s College London. She shared with us some of her incredibly rich and vivid poetry, along with an insightful analysis and the personal story behind her work. So, settle in with a cup of tea and a biscuit, and prepare to be transported.

—

Love Echoed 

By Vaani Walia 

Rolls like sunset gazed on a moonlit hour arriving at break,

soon no sand be warm to keep,

when water under the moon is kept silent and tonight a little weak.

That tormenting voice shuns quiet and deep,

Love in embrace, Love in tonality kept and it silently speaks.

Sparing rejection for the night is young and hearts are weak.

For minds are full and eyes lull to sleep.

Barefoot we walked on shores now cold, dry and deep,

with minds restless and hearts, venom sedated weep,

nibbles on my shoulder thunders me weak.

Drawing me imperfect, love impersonates the desire to preach –

like a dandelion locket on a necklace to keep –

slurps me like a parched bird drinks beyond infinite reach.

Love rows me by declared sunsets, as morrow is broken into words said in admiration too stunned to speak,

across you land from a land of impersonating belief I am taken by the sign left enchanted and broken to sweep,

till nights grow young and weak,

makes me frail with acquaintance till lips are coloured in the tints of thee.

My eyes are lulled to merry sleeps, and love is more than a night’s relief.

“I am the shore and you the infinite sea.

Moon be our home, and sun be our loop of all breaths breathed.”

Inspiration:

What inspired me to write, Love Echoed, was the transcendence that love has and how everything around us is metaphorically present in one way or the other. Everything in this poem has everything to do with oneness. How there is a thread between all things that weave us together, from loving another soul to having the entirety of the world be a mirror of our love. Taking the moon, sun and seas as ideal images, my desire was to portray how love has the power to unite us to our surroundings. In a way it is healing and evolutionary, where you find yourself connected with not just yourself and your beloved but to the higher self as well. This poem in fact has a lot to do with the ideas of Sufi mysticism.

—

Like a Dove in Gilded Cage

By Vaani Walia 

Like a dove in a gilded cage,

You fly through all my awaiting glances.

I seek those sly advances of touch – a slow feathered gliding –

in my soul. I slowly tremble and shake,

For those counterfeit moments I play restless in my mind;

preaching to me joy of forgiveness,

a clear sincerity rakes.

I within thee speak when winds move no more.

I within me rage when your words don’t faintly fade.

I within me satiate desires held for nights longer than days.

I crave and carve nature’s turn, each palpable sane,

for in insanity you so adoringly rage.

When my lips don’t tremble with your name;

when in isolation, the loneliness fades.

When in unions, faith doesn’t shake,

when in hunger, love satiates.

When air between our lungs breathe –

I sigh in moments conventionally weak.

I within me fly innate

when doves in the cage hoover above an empty space.

I within me collapse my rage,

When your thought provokes devotion in isolated sage,

Like a dove in a gilded cage.

Inspiration

What inspired me to write Like a Dove in a Glided Cage, was the idea of devotion to someone with whom you can’t label anything, not because you are unsure of your relationship but because you are more than a label, more than a name. Where you can’t be with them but you only belong with them. To have everything yet nothing. This led to the name of this poem, Like a Dove in a Glided Cage. Where there is nothing around you that makes you fear anything, for you have loved so deeply you see no difference between your beloved and your God. Reading Sufi poets like Rumi, Shams and Yunus Emre I have found myself pick on their ideologies of love which have been the core reason for having myself write something both romantic and spiritual.

Thank you Vaani for sharing your fantastic poetry!