Jack Thorne’s new play, The Motive and the Cue, has found inspiration in the staging of another play, Hamlet. Thorne travels back to the 1960s, when Richard Burton, recently married to Elizabeth Taylor, is set to star as the melancholy Dane in an experimental production of Shakespeare’s tragedy. The distinguished actor John Gielgud is Burton’s director, and he is demanding. Can Burton and Gielgud, stars from different generations, collaborate? The director is Sam Mendes, who’s moved brilliantly between the stage and the screen. —Jensen Davis
The Arts Intel Report
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
The Motive and the Cue
Johnny Flynn as Richard Burton (left) and Mark Gatiss as Sir John Gielgud in The Motive and the Cue.
