Audiences expecting a greatest hits set from 90s pop duo Shakespears Sister were in for a surprise at the Brighton Festival, where a Shakespeare-themed song recital took centre stage. The performance, featuring soprano Sophie Bevan and pianist Christopher Glynn, combined music with speeches from actor Harriet Walter's 2024 book She Speaks!, offering a fresh perspective on Shakespeare's female characters.
The programme paired Shakespeare's songs with Walter's verse, which gives voice to women who are often silent in the original plays. Highlights included Desdemona's 'Willow, Willow' set to Percy Grainger's bittersweet melody, seamlessly transitioning into Verdi's 'Ave Maria' from Otello. Bevan's delivery was immediate and word-led, before leaping into Australian composer Alison Bauld's sensual 'Titania's Song'.
Ophelia's tragic songs featured Berlioz's 'La mort d'Ophelie' and Elizabeth Maconchy's 'Ophelia's Song', while Madeleine Dring's 'It Was a Lover and Her Lass' offered lighter respite. For Lady Macbeth, Joseph Horovitz's 'Lady Macbeth: A Scena' captured her guilt through obsessive piano repetitions, played by the responsive Glynn.
Miranda Richardson replaced Walter as reader, delivering the verse with a muted, celebrity-reader tone. Despite this, the pop fans who had mistakenly attended chose to stay after the interval, a testament to the recital's compelling nature.
