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.
“A stunningly original Korean update of the classic play. Confucius meets Shakespeare with a dash of hip hop thrown in for good measure. Critically acclaimed worldwide tour returns to Edinburgh.” –description from the Edinburgh Fringe Programme
Read MoreThe Lord Chamberlain's Men's production of Shakespeare's much-loved battle-of-the-sexes comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, stopped off at the Bristol Shakespeare Festival during their 2016 summer tour.
Read MoreThis production of Shakespeare’s first comedy celebrates over 50 years of Shakespeare on Brownsea Island.
Read MoreThe Barded Ladies revived one of Shakespeare's least-performed plays with a twist for the Bristol Shakespeare Festival - reimagining Queen Margaret as King Margaret and her adversaries Richard of York and Richard of Gloucester as bloodthirsty women. The production drew on contemporary political battles between men and women to explore the roles gender plays in politics and war.
Read MoreThe performance is put on by Bournemouth Shakespeare Players in association with St. Peter's Players Bournemouth (Dame Judi Dench is the President of The Bournemouth Shakespeare Players).
Read MoreThe deeds of Shakespeare’s most devious and dastardly villains were brought to life in this multi-art form show which featured theatre, dance, 3D soundscapes and film.
Read More“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 MoreShakespeare's romantic comedy was brought to life at the Bristol Shakespeare Festival by Folksy Theatre, a company who tour the UK with open-air and indoor theatre productions using music, interactive performance and puppetry to make their productions fun and accessible for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Read MoreA revival of Jonathan Munby’s highly-acclaimed 2015 production of The Merchant of Venice, with Jonathan Pryce as Shylock.
Read MoreThe first serious Japanese translation of ‘To be or not to be’ performed alongside a comic version – in English and in Japanese – written in 1874. The evening cumulates in the Kabuki-inspired Visions of Ophelia performed by Japanese actress Aki Isoda, who toured her one-woman show worldwide.
Read MoreFake Escape's Venus and Adonis combined physical theatre, classical delivery and original music both live and recorded. Performed by an all-male company, the production (the first major stage adaptation of Shakespeare's narrative poem for over a decade) explored 21st century themes of gender fluidity and social conditioning. It was presented in association with We Are Proud as part of Bristol Pride and Bristol Shakespeare Festival.
Read MoreA collaborative project between the University of Leeds (UK) and the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) (Beijing) to celebrate Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu in 2016, the 400th anniversary of the deaths of two legendary playwrights. The creative team from UIBE performed an adaptation of the magical forest scenes from Shakespeare's play and the team from Leeds performed a contemporary response to Tang Xianzu's _Nanke Ji_.
“Using Shakespeare's classic tale of love and misunderstanding, traditional Chinese theatre techniques, music, humour and contemporary staging, Beijing's ST@UIBE company examines love, gender politics and the changing role of women in contemporary Chinese society.” (description from the Edinburgh Fringe Programme)
Read More“An adaptation of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens. The show comes out of a box: props, costume and instruments. The show utilizes comedy, tragedy, hats and songs to tell one of Shakespeare's least known plays.” (description from the Fringe Programme)
Read More“An improvised Shakespeare play inspired by audience suggestions. Bursting with comedy, love, tragedy, mistaken identity and everything in between, to delight Shakespeare nerds and newbies alike.” --description from Fringe Programme
Read MoreAs part of the official programme commemorating the 400th year anniversary of the deaths of Tang Xianzu and William Shakespeare, Performance Infinity helped the ‘The Malachites’ break new ground by taking responsibility for their first international tour of China.
Founded in 2013 ‘The Malachites’ are a site-specific theatre company who aim to reconnect Shakespeare and his plays to the areas in which he lived and worked, as well as bringing their own unique style to an international audience.
This year saw the Malachites take Hamlet, perhaps Shakespeare’s most revered play, to the Guangzhou Dramatic Arts Centre, China. Having previously played in venues ranging from historic gardens to Churches, this was an event not to be missed. In conjunction with Performance Infinity, ‘The Malachites’ production received critical acclaim, performing to a sold out Chinese audience.
Read MoreGB Theatre offered classic, open-air family fun at the Bristol Shakespeare Festival with their take on As You Like It, which played in repertory with Romeo and Juliet.
Read MoreThis production relocated King Lear from ancient Britain to the Northern Territory, Australia, thus establishing a thought-provoking link between Lear's disastrous division of his kingdom and land ownership and social reform in Australia, following the first Land Rights Act of 1976. The concern with land was powerfully conveyed by the red sand that covered the vast expanses of the stage of the Barbican theatre. The gigantic road train that towered over the stage was a painful reminder of the environmental and social ravages caused by intensive mining in the region. The exploitation of the land goes against the Aboriginal belief that we do not own the land, but that the land owns us. Another exciting aspect of this production was the blending of Shakespeare's lines with Kriol and other Aboriginal languages which, along with live singing and live music on stage, evoked the soundscape of the Northern Territory.
Read MoreThe renowned Timothy West plays Lear alongside up-and-coming actors studying at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. The production marks not only the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, but also the 250th anniversary of the Bristol Old Vic and the 70th anniversary of its Theatre School.
Read MoreShakespeare’s play of supernatural forces and bloody ambitions is director Iqbal Kahn’s debut on the Globe stage.
Read MoreTaking Flight Theatre's take on Romeo and Juliet set the tragic love story in 1963 with the Montagues and Capulets fighting it out on the river for the annual college boat race. The promenade performance featured many of the company's trademarks including lots of audience interaction, BSL by Sami Thorpe and live audio description. Taking Flight Theatre is a professional inclusive theatre company based in Cardiff, Wales who work to challenge perceptions of disability through accessible theatre performances.
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This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
