Dying to Succeed, Yuki Ellias

/

Dying to Succeed is a whacky show about Shakespeare's iconic characters in today's corporate world. Iago is bitter as Othello doesn't give him the promotion he thinks he deserves; Macbeth is eyeing the CEO's office; and Portia multi-tasks and multi-roles her way around the glass ceiling. Guest appearances by Lady Macbeth, Cordelia, Romeo and Juliet...with a little help from the audience! This is a solo theatre, stand-up and audience interactive performance.

Read More

A Fool's Paradise: 30 Shakespeare Scenes in 60 Minutes

/ Venue 13/
A Fool's Paradise: 30 Shakespeare Scenes in 60 Minutes

“Four actors race to perform Shakespeare's greatest hits. You, the audience, play Shakespearean BINGO to choose what scene comes next and keep the actors on their toes. Call out favorites such as Romeo & Juliet's balcony bliss, Lady Macbeth's blood cleansing sleepwalk or one of our more “liberally interpreted” alternatives. 30 scenes will be performed in 60 minutes...or someone gets a pie in the face!” (description from company website)

Read More

Shit-faced Shakespeare, Magnificent Bastard Productions

/

“Shit-Faced Shakespeare is the deeply highbrow fusion of an entirely serious Shakespeare play with an entirely shit-faced cast member. Side-splitting, raucous and completely interactive, the show has been running since 2010 and has already entertained over 30,000 eager theatre goers across the UK. With a genuinely drunken professional actor selected at random every night, no two shows are ever the same and audiences can even dictate when the actor gets to drink more to prevent unwanted sobriety. Shit-Faced Shakespeare seeks to introduce a new generation of theatre-goers to the works of the Bard by reviving the raucous, interactive and vibrant nature of Elizabethan theatre with a very modern twist - reminding them as we go to always enjoy Shakespeare responsibly.” --description from company website

The play selected for the Shit-Faced treatment in 2016 was Measure for Measure.

Read More

BOB, Gin & Tonic Productions

/

“Gin & Tonic Productions embarks on its first European Tour with a brand new Shakespearean tragi-comedy: BOB - the play that Shakespeare would have written, could have written but never got round to writing. The eclectic mix of farce, cabaret and satire, live jazz and Kanye West is certain to make you slap your knee and guffaw like Elizabeth I watching traditional Shakespeare comedies.  Scandinavia is in crisis! While Sweden is hit by an apocalyptic incident, Ikea’s manuals having dramatically biodegraded, the ambitious Lady Bob takes over Finland by an unscrupulous coup d’etat.  Will her naive husband Bob, now puppet ruler of Finland, manage to save Scandinavia from his wicked wife and her devoted squad of murderous nuns and finally become a hero worthy of the bard?” –Gin & Tonic Productions, website description

Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shanghai Farce Troupe

/ Shanghai Lyceum Theater/

“Shakespeare's "rude mechanicals" of A Midsummer Night's Dream  are speaking in the Shanghai dialect! It's one of the comic devices employed by the Shanghai Farce Troupe as they present a Chinese-language version of the original. The play also features other local elements, including traditional Chinese musical instruments.

The comedy follows the story of four lovers and a group of amateur actors and their adventures with woodland fairies and a duke and duchess. The cast is entirely Chinese, and they will also play traditional instruments like the erhu and flute to add a Chinese flavor to this more than 400-year-old English play.” –information from the CCTV article listed below

Read More

William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged)

/ The Folger Shakespeare Theatre/

In honor of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, the the Reduced Shakespeare Company has penned their tenth play, which will debut at the Folger Theatre in April. "The Return of the Reduced Shakespeare Company" is an exciting headline for the Folger Shakespeare Library’s 2016 season. 

Read More

The Stories of Shakey P, Catford

/ Broadway Theatre/
The Stories of Shakey P, Catford

Hip-hop meets a Shakespeare lesson in performance poet Charlie Dupré's 'The Stories of Charlie P'. Part of the Catford-upon-Avon festival.

“Classical playwriting and hip-hop meet in an electrifying lyrical brew, as the Bard is re-imagined as a playground battle rapper! Also featuring the Weird Sisters’ account of their dealings with Macbeth, a peak into Richard III’s therapy sessions, Othello in the style of Eminem’s Stan and a psychotically rhythmic insight into Hamlet’s inner turmoil, Charlie uses rap and character comedy to retell some of the best known works with a riveting contemporary slant."

Read More

Broadway and the Bard, The Lion Theatre

/ The Lion Theater/

“In Broadway and the Bard, Cariou combines Shakespeare and American musical comedy into one rich and diverse tapestry, melding classical soliloquies and sonnets with inventive musical pairings from beloved writers of the Great White Way.” –description from the Broadway website

Read More