Warwick-based Playbox Theatre is to present four productions during a residency at the Santa Monica Playhouse, California.
A company of 23 young actors, directors, crew and staff from Playbox Theatre’s Shakespeare Young Company will celebrate Shakespeare in four different projects.
Stewart McGill, director of Shakespeare Young Company, said, “we’ve chosen to reflect different approaches for different ages and we hope audiences will enjoy a slightly irreverent approach to our national playwright.
“Our Shakespeare Young Company is one of Playbox’s most successful divisions, with a large programme annually of playing at home in Warwick and touring to festivals and special events. We can’t wait to share our approach with audiences in Santa Monica.”
For the first time, the company will be staging a non-verbal creation. The Comedy of Errors will imagine that a travelling troupe of clowns has discovered the play and want to stage it in their own, highly physical and slapstick style.
The adaptation has been developed by Playbox Theatre founder Mary King and will be seen in the UK during 2015.
Shakespeare’s Wronged Women is a new staging by Stewart McGill which blends Shakespeare’s text, dramatic encounters, movement and sound to get beneath the skin of the women and discover whether they are as wronged as perceived.
Mustardseed’s Magical Mayhem, inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is a participatory show for children aged three to seven.
Youth’s A Stuff Will Not Endure is a reminder that time is a major player in Shakespeare’s plays. Characters will form a procession of Shakespeare-inspired characters across time.
After the performances in Santa Monica, Playbox will return to the Dream Factory, Warwick and will stage Shakespeare’s Wronged Women on Saturday 8 November and The Comedy of Errors and Mustardseed’s Magical Mayhem on 15, 16, 22 and 23 November.