Bound in a nutshell - it’s not so bad

THE WINTER'S TALE: Considered to be one of Shakespeare's 'problem plays' because the first three acts are filled with psychological drama, while the last two acts are comedic and have a happy ending, The Winter's Tale is one of London theatre The Globe's free-to-stream productions.

The wooden O, as Shakespeare describes London's Globe Theatre in Henry V, is locked down like the rest of us — but the shows go on, online.

Beginning with Hamlet, The Globe is streaming a Shakespeare play for free every fortnight.

Hamlet is on now and will run until April 19 and is followed by a screening of a production of Romeo and Juliet from April 20-May 3.

The replica Elizabethan-style playhouse, with its open roof, thrust stage and pit where groundlings get up close and personal with the actors, has a public streaming platform called Globe Player, but bookings are a tad pricey.

That all changed on Monday, with the programme's free screening of Hamlet with Globe boss Michelle Terry in the title role of the doomed Danish prince.

Top theatre reviewer Michael Billingham was relaxed about the impact of gender-fluid casting but found the production, rarely, shocked him into a new awareness of the play, he said in The Guardian.

“There is no sense of Elsinore as a place of eavesdropping corruption, no hint of reckless sensuality in the relationship of Claudius and Gertrude, no awareness that Polonius is a wily politician rather than a prattling buffoon.”

Terry, however, brings to the role all the qualities he might have expected, he said.

“She speaks the verse intelligently, initially conveys a sense of bereft solitude — her voice cracks on the implication that she ‘seems' to be affecting grief — and is very good at suggesting bottled rage.”

After Hamlet, the free-to-stream productions of Shakespeare at The Globe are made up of Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale, The Two Noble Kinsmen, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

To view, go to and scroll down the page to ‘free content'.

Also available for free streaming are all shows from the 2012 Globe to Globe festival.

“In 2012, we brought together artists from all over the globe, to enjoy speaking these plays in their own language, in our Globe, within the architecture Shakespeare wrote for,” says the blurb on the London theatre's website.

Among shows in the series is a Korean production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, a Macedonian Henry VI Part 3, a Polish Macbeth, and a Hebrew The Merchant of Venice.

• To see the complete list, and view productions, go to