Lovely Shakespeare Theatre Opens In France
In the grounds of a castle in France, the architect Andrew Todd has done something wonderful. On the greensward of the Chateau d’Hardelot, near Boulogne-sur-Mer and in sniffing distance of the Channel, a 388-seat Elizabethan theatre has gone up to his design. The chateau, a medieval ruin converted into a Tudor-style folly by its 19th-century British owners, is a relic of the continuous interaction between this part of France and Britain and now serves as a cultural centre of the entente cordiale. Irony alert: the first performance took place the day after Brexit.