Last December, Twelfth Night, starring Sam West, premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace and home to the Royal Shakespeare Company. We had the privilege of seeing this production on New Year's Day. Now it transfers to the Barbican Centre in London for the Christmas season.

Last month we were able to visit the Dorfman Theatre for the first time, one of the National Theatre venues on London's Southbank, following its recent reopening after a temporary closure for maintenance. We were going to see David Lan's new play, The Land of the Living,  starring Juliet Stevenson and Tom Wlaschiha, whom we remember as the Many-Faced God from Game of Thrones.