T.S. Eliot wrote that “April is the cruelest month,” but we're officially endorsing Birthday Boy Bard’s more optimistic quote instead: “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” Feel young and sprightly in the warmer weather as you sample the Shakespeare-themed week ahead in honor of his “official” 444th birthday (his actual date of birth remains a mystery). Monday: And wilt thou be the school where Lust shall learn? One of London’s best......

Last night London's Luvvieland came together for their annual award ceremony, the Oliviers. Having received 11 nominations across 10 categories, it looked like being Hairspray's night. And Londonist is happy to confirm what we already knew: the show is a deserved winner of the Best New Musical accolade. In addition, Leanne Jones (Best Actress in a Musical) rocks as the optimistic teen, Tracy Turnblad; Tracie Bennett (Best Supporting Role in a Musical) is similarly......

Four weeks till Christmas! Argh. Funds are all focused on present buying and getting through the party season but we still want to go out and about because the heating isn't working properly at home. We can't afford to go and see Gandalf drop his trousers in King Lear but, thankfully, there's lots of cheap and interesting stuff about as usual. Monday: Start the week with an event truly in the spirit of London......

The fantastically named Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of the Globe Theatre, has recently announced the line up for their 2006 theatre season, and it's a bit of a corker. Under the theme "The Edges of Rome" the Globe will be staging Coriolanus ("Shakespeare’s greatest political play"), Titus Andronicus ("Spectacularly, even grotesquely, violent and daringly experimental"), Antony & Cleopatra (although Antony has been spelt with an 'h' on the Globe website...tut tut), and The Comedy......

Continuing the somewhat Japanese theme begun below, Londonist notes that Yukio Ninagawa will be the director of Hamlet at the Barbican starting November 10. Japan’s fascination with Shakespeare is long-standing (see “Othello”, below) and, for this writer at least, perpetually puzzling. Ninagawa’s love of the Bard is perhaps even more puzzling, since he speaks no English. He directed Nigel Hawthorne in King Lear in 1999. Since Hawthorne spoke no Japanese, this was all done through......