“stylishly performed … [Beamish’s] Shakespeare Masque is based on seven typically touching and witty poems by Duffy, which focus on Shakespeare the man rather than on his achievement. They move more or less chronologically through what we know of his life, but there’s no narrative as such. It was commissioned as a community work to involve Ex Cathedra’s Academy of Vocal Music as well as the main choir, with local schoolchildren recruited for each performance. The masque was accompanied by an Elizabethan “broken consort” of viols, lutes, flutes and percussion, and came complete with colourful costumes, and much parading around the church.”

Read the complete Guardian review of our Shakespeare Odes project here.