Free Shakespeare!

[pallas_athena]

If you're in or near Washington DC right now, the Shakespeare Theater's annual Free for All in Carter Barron Amphitheatre in Rock Creek Park is on this week (until June 3.) This year's production is their amazing Love's Labour's Lost, set in the 1960s with Indian gurus, hippie rock stars, and the Princess and her ladies in catsuits riding Vespas. I saw this production when they brought it to Stratford-upon-Avon last August, and it was a truly joyful evening. One of the things I liked about it was that they've added some good old-fashioned Shakespearean gender-bending to the comedy: the men are very "feminine" throughout, in an authentically 60s way (long hair, drapey clothing, jewellery) while the women spend most of the action in tight trousers, posing with "masculine" props like motor scooters and guns. And the music--! Since the "lords" are rock stars in this production, their love sonnets all morph into songs, and they do in fact rock out.

Post listing and review here. This production ought to work, if anything, even better under the trees of Rock Creek Park. If I were in DC, I'd be there right now. Go see! Go see!

Comments

[laughingmagpie.livejournal.com]

I read your title and I was all, like, "Who has Shakespeare?! We've got to go save him! Free Willy now!"

;-)

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com]

It's those academics that are holding him... they're going to take turns beating him with sticks until he confesses to being the Earl of Oxford.

FREE SHAKESPEARE NOW!!! As you so rightly say, FREE WILLY!!!!

o/t but

[myriadim.livejournal.com]

just saw this and wanted to share

Re: o/t but

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com]

YAY!!!! for Shaun Tan!!!

...who is definitely not the Earl of Oxford either.

Re: o/t but

[myriadim.livejournal.com]

I had a good laugh when I opened the article. When I saw 'book without words wins literary prize' I was all braced for a cynically humorous piece about some bizarre piece of 'cutting edge' 'writing' causing a ridiculous stir amongst the ennui-laden literati elite.

But no, it was Shaun, aka not the Earl of Oxford, Tan. :-)

Had some soup today (off work) and thought of you.

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com]

Weirdly enough, I had soup for lunch today too. Hope you feel better soon!

[pvcdiva.livejournal.com]

Hey lovely - nothing at all to do with Shakespeare (which sounds just fantastic) but I've been doing some tubewhore research, noodling about on the web, and W S Gilbert's house is close to Stanmore

http://www.grimsdyke.com/location.htm

You probably know all about it already, but thought we could go and have tea there now that the house is a contry hotel. As the poor sod had a heart attack in the pond, and Stanmore is the furthest Northern reach of the Jubilee, it makes a great End of the Line story...

Maybe the 'art piece' for Stanmore should be a musical piece?