Thank you for visiting our archive. Each performance submitted to our website will be explained in detail in its own blog post. You can choose to look through these posts in a variety of ways.
One man’s hilarious interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. Māori Performance Mask (Te Mata Kokako o Rēhia) comes to life as Regan Taylor unfolds an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello as a solo performance. SolOTHELLO weaves together Shakespeare’s original prose, modern English and Te Reo Māori to deliver a dynamic and cheeky interpretation of one of history’s more tragic plays.
Read MorePreviously performed at the Edinburgh Fringe (2015) and Lyric Hammersmith's Evolution Festival (January 2016). ‘Frailty thy name is woman?! Oh get stuffed Will!’ Armed with The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, some rudimentary feminism and a lot of questions, Emma is here to find out exactly why she can’t play Hamlet. Or Macbeth. Or Iago. Or even just a downright Fool. And not just on stage but in real life! In a semi-autobiographical solo show, Emma Bentley dons the trousers as she tackles the trials and tribulations of playing Shakespeare’s men... without a codpiece. Performed as part of Catford-upon-Avon Festival.
Read MoreHip-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."
Created for the Catford-upon-Avon festival, 'Painted Blind' takes its title from Helena's lines “Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind/ And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind” in A Midsummer Night's Dream 1.1. The performance is “a danced journey through Shakespeare's lovers, with all the feeling, heartbreak and turmoil of the characters on the page,” offering its audience the opportunity to “watch the bard's beautiful disasters unravel” in an “imaginative physical retelling.”
Read More"Tormentor. Mistress. Muse. The Datura Collective presents an adaptation of Shakespeare’s latter sonnets. As the romantic, loving fair maiden is stained jet black, a fixation that defies the poet’s reason takes hold. Combining his story with spoken word, music and dance the Sonnets are reimagined and woven together depicting a tale of love, lust and desire as Shakespeare’s elegant verse situates itself in a mire of sexual angst and betrayal."
A new commission for the Catford-Upon-Avon Festival.
“‘Okay, I’ll give you two guesses. Think our age, right? I don’t think you’ll have met her but you probably know who she is. Think of, the worst possible person for me in terms of... everything.’ Two guys face the world with all its girl troubles, family feuds, death and murder. Sound familiar?"
Presented as part of Catford-upon-Avon Festival by Action to the Word. The programme notes workshops available for school groups.
“With their father dying, estranged siblings Lilly and Ed are drawn reluctantly back to the farmhouse of their youth. Between them and their inheritance lies a past that won’t go away. But can it be rewritten?”
Venus Quarry is a new play, inspired by the love-test in King Lear. It explores themes of sibling rivalry, generational disconnect, and modern lifestyle choices versus traditional values.
Performed as part of Catford-upon-Avon Festival.
Read MorePresented as part of Catford-upon-Avon Festival by Action To The Word. The show was revived for Vault Festival in February 2016 before the performance at Catford-upon-Avon. Wild Bill began as a monologue called 'Richard III vs. Gollum' which grew into several more 'vs.' monologues pitting Shakespeare's characters against figures from popular culture.
Read More“Method in Madness follows a young Hollywood starlet struggling to connect with Shakespeare’s Ophelia in a West End staging of Hamlet. She desperately turns to method acting for salvation, but soon the boundaries between the theatre and her own reality become blurred. Amongst the bombs and sirens of Blitz-struck WWII London her stunning portrayal quickly becomes the performance of her life.
Method in Madness fuses both Shakespearean text and new writing with stunning physical theatre and extraordinary dance, soundtracked by the haunting music of singer-songwriter Laura Marling.”
A behind-the-scenes take on Shakespeare staged in a dressing room. Part of Catford-upon-Avon Festival.
"Concord of Sweet Sounds"
Huguette Labelle Hall, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
March 11, 2016
Information about this musical performance can be found below, in the program pages.
I Don’t Like It. As You Like It deals with the highs and lows faced by a circus troupe, highlighting the fact that to find yourself, you must become the other! Behind the smiles and entertainment, these are just ordinary people dealing with stress, angst and the madness that is life.
Read MoreThis is the first ShakesBEER pub crawl outside of New York City to feature actors from the New York Shakespeare Exchange. Ticket purchase includes going to five bars in the Downtown Bryan and at each bar you get to drink (select beer/wine/cocktails) and enjoy a Shakespearean performance built just for ShakesBEER. The evening concluded with excerpts from the Sonnet Project, which features Shakespeare's sonnets filmed as short films in contemporary New York City.
Read More“Having triumphed in Celebrity Big Brother, survived Dancing with the Stars, and battled with Meatloaf and Donald Trump, Keanu Reeves' favorite co-star takes on his biggest challenge yet: proving that he still has the ‘acting chops’ by performing all the parts in Hamlet with songs, multimedia and home-made puppets in his own personal tribute to the 2016 global Shakespeare 400 Celebrations.
Switching between beat poet narrator, puppeteer, singer, and action-movie director, Gary Busey (as imagined by David Carl) plays each scene in the style he feels appropriate. This mix of high and low-brow comedy celebrates Shakespeare’s play by proving it is still relevant, applicable and moving in the jaded, celebrity-crazy, meme-obsessed world that we (and David Carl) live in.” –from the company press release
“Written in 1727 and based off of original Shakespearean manuscripts, Double Falsehood is a layered exploration of honor, rape, discourse, dishonesty, promises and love. The classical text follows the form of a standard 5 act Shakespearean comedy, surfeit with cross-dressing, anguished lovers, foibled fathers, heroic royalty and privy (yet silent) citizenry. It is a smart and scathing contrivance that demands dialogue around why, in nearly 300 years, our society continues to deal in violence, blame and victimization.
The three phase project is designed to spark a conversation and incite a change in our society as a whole.” –description from the company website
Verona Walls
Presented in English
The Workshop Theater, New York, USA
March 3-26, 2016
“In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, the ancient grudge has very little to do with Mercutio's difficulties in love. Verona Walls is the story of real love in Shakespeare's star-crossed city, complete with misunderstandings, perfect happiness, and devastating heartbreak. Classical verse mixes with Star Wars references and Beatles lyrics in this tragicomedy about the lives and loves of Shakespeare's characters before they got swept up in the Bard's creation.” –from the Workshop Theater website
The Workshop Theater
A new play by Laura Hirschberg
Directed by DeLisa M. White*
Cast:
Mick Bleyer**
Rachel Flynn**
Ryan McCurdy**
Jacob Owen
Lauren Riddle
Matthew Russell**
Ben Sumrall**
Christine Verleny
Liz Wasser
*Member of Stage Directors & Choreographers Society
** member Actors' Equity Association
Stage Manager: Elizabeth Ramsay
Set Designer: Connor Munion
Costume Designer: Kimberley Windbiel
Lighting Designer: Scot Gianelli
Production Manager: Rob McIntosh
Fight Choreographer: Mick Bleyer
Musical Director: Jeff Paul
For More Information:
http://www.workshoptheater.org/workshop-events/2015/11/27/verona-walls
Selected Reviews, Media Coverage, and Interviews:
https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/article/VERONA-WALLS-to-Run-33-26-at-Workshop-Theater-20160204
http://the-fifth-wall.blogspot.ca/2016/02/women-on-shakespeare-laura-hirschberg.html
https://workshoptheater.wordpress.com/2016/02/12/the-eight-year-journey-to-verona/
To celebrate the Shakespeare jubilee, Dramaten organises a LARP (Live Action Role Play) called Gertrudes hen where 200 participants will explore the prelude to Hamlet: What happens after Hamlet’s father is killed and before Gertrude marries the murderer?
The jubilee is also celebrated at Dramaten throughout the spring with a special dinner, a quiz-night and other events.
Read MoreGothenburg Opera’s celebration of Shakespeare in 2016 is a concert with music inspired by Hamlet. Music by Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Gade, Stravinsky and Walton. Actors recite text from the play between the musical numbers. After the main concert the event continues with a smaller concert in the opera’s foyer.
Read MoreA modern day, musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Read MoreSongs of Women in love, Doomed love and Universal love
Read More“Based on one audience suggestion (a title of a show that has never been written), The Improvised Shakespeare Company® creates a fully improvised Shakespearean masterpiece right before your eyes. Nothing has been planned out, rehearsed, or written. All of the dialogue is said for the first time, the characters are created as you watch, and if ever you're wondering where the story is going...so are they! You've never seen the Bard like this before!” –description from the Improvised Shakespeare Company website
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This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
