Whitney White's Radical Shakespeare Reckoning at The Other Place
The Royal Shakespeare Company has unleashed a provocative and thrilling new production that questions the very foundations of its own repertoire. Whitney White's gig-theatre show All Is But Fantasy, running at The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon until 21 February, doesn't just perform Shakespeare - it interrogates his problematic legacy through a contemporary lens.
A Musical Deconstruction of Iconic Characters
White's production takes four of Shakespeare's most famous characters and flips their narratives completely. Lady Macbeth, Emilia from Othello, Juliet, and Richard III become vehicles for exploring difficult questions about representation, violence, and who gets to occupy space in these canonical works. As a Black woman performer, White specifically questions which parts of the Shakespearean canon are truly accessible to her.
The ensemble cast creates a dynamic theatrical experience:
- Timmika Ramsay as one of the shape-shifting witches
- Whitney White taking centre stage as both creator and performer
- Georgina Onuorah bringing vocal power to the witch chorus
- Renée Lamb completing the formidable trio of supernatural commentators
- Daniel Krikler as the ever-present masculine presence
- Juliette Crosbie representing the traditional casting of Shakespeare's female roles
From Lady Macbeth's Swagger to Richard III's Villainy
The production builds momentum as it progresses through its four-part structure. White begins with Lady Macbeth reimagined as a woman pursuing her only available path to power, only to discover that power alone proves insufficient. The Emilia section delivers particularly powerful commentary, unpicking female solidarity and white allyship while challenging audiences to consider the cost of repeatedly staging violence against women.
In the Juliet segment, White reluctantly embodies a role that has never felt authentically hers, simultaneously questioning the romantic ideals that Romeo and Juliet has bequeathed to modern culture. The climax sees White finally abandoning suffering female characters to take on one of Shakespeare's most villainous men - Richard III - prompting audiences to question whether adopting masculinity truly offers liberation.
Musical Innovation Meets Intellectual Rigour
What elevates All Is But Fantasy beyond mere theatrical critique is its brilliant musical dimension. Each character receives their own distinctive musical signature:
- Rock-infused arrangements for Lady Macbeth's swaggering ambition
- Bluesy melancholy for Emilia's tragic narrative
- Contemporary refrains that echo across all four sections
- Brilliant ensemble performances supported by an onstage band
The music transforms what could have been a dry intellectual exercise into a passionate, textured theatrical experience. While the show occasionally circles similar questions, the interrupting voices of other performers add necessary complexity and prevent the production from becoming repetitive.
Questioning Shakespeare's Supposed Timelessness
White's most compelling intervention challenges the notion of Shakespeare's timelessness. Rather than celebrating how these works transcend their era, she asks what their continued popularity says about our contemporary moment. Why do modern audiences still consume stories of sexy men killing sexy women? The production offers no easy answers, instead leaving audiences sitting with productive discomfort that might colour their next encounter with Shakespeare's plays.
This isn't theatre that explodes the canon so much as it carefully needles at it, revealing both the enduring power and problematic aspects of Shakespeare's work. For those willing to engage with difficult questions about representation, violence, and theatrical tradition, All Is But Fantasy represents one of the most important productions in the RSC's recent programming.
