Shakespeare 400 celebrations in Bristol
Posted on: 08 Feb 20162016 is the year in which people all across England will be celebrating 400 years of Shakespeare. One of our finest playwrights ever to exist, and a familiar name to anyone who has ever read a book or been to school, Shakespeare deserves to be celebrated. His life and works will be subject to a good few adaptations and creative productions in Bristol over the year, below is a list of the best –
The Tempest, Redgrave Theatre, 18th to the 27th February – MORE INFO
This wonderful retelling of one of Shakespeare’s greatest masterpieces tells the story of the usurped Duke of Milan, Prospero, and his daughter Miranda. Their exile at the hands of Prospero’s brother sees them rule alone over an enchanted island, served by the spirit Ariel and twisted slave Caliban. When the tide changes and Prospero is offered the chance for perfect revenge, a tale of love, betrayal, power, and magic unfurls.
Imbued with a spirit of magic and the supernatural, The Tempest is Shakespeare’s late great masterpiece of forgiveness, generosity and enlightenment. Tickets for the show are £8, and can be purchased by clicking the MORE INFO link or calling 01179733955.
Hamlet, Tobacco Factory Theatre, 11th February to the 30th April – MORE INFO
Realpolitik, madness, sex and murder all play their part in a drama that is both a thriller and the profoundest meditation on our human condition.
Hamlet productions – like London buses – tend to come in threes. The Tobacco Factory squeeze their own in between the controversial Turner/Cumberbatch production at the Barbican and the RSC’s spring production (in which Paapa Essiedu, their own highly praised Romeo in 2015, will play the title role). But the choices the play offers director and cast are legion. How old should Hamlet be – eighteen, twenty, or a man in his late 30s? Is he ever truly mad? Was his mother complicit in the murder of his father? Questions like these, and many, many more, ensure that no two productions of this enthralling play will ever be alike.
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Hamlet Lunchtime Talk, Tobacco Factory Theatre, 19th March – MORE INFO
Join the Director, Andrew Hilton, and members of the cast as they discuss Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and Tobacco Factory Theatres’s production of Hamlet.
Please note that this is not an introduction to the season’s shows; the theatre asks that everyone attending them has already seen the production in question as it allows the discussion to be deeper and more wide ranging.
All's Well That Ends Well, Tobacco Factory Theatre, 31st March – 4th April – MORE INFO
A young woman, using skills bequeathed to her by her father, saves the French King’s life and is rewarded with the right to choose her own husband. But what if the chosen one won’t play the game?
A romantic comedy, yet with echoes of the much darker Measure for Measure, All’s Well that Ends Well belongs to its women. To its central character, Helena, and to her guardian and mother of her object of desire, the extraordinary Countess of Rossillion. Class, unrequited love and disingenuous passion all play their part against the backdrop of an Italian civil war, which Helena’s chosen one joins in order to escape her. But when he fights like a hero he encounters the sexual temptations that celebrity so often brings… How can Helena win him to her? How can she get him into bed?
Alls Well That Ends Well Lunchtime Talk, Tobacco Factory Theatre, 16th April – MORE INFO
Join the Director, Andrew Hilton, and members of the cast as they discuss Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and Tobacco Factory Theatres’s production of All’s Well That Ends Well.
Please note that this is not an introduction to the season’s shows; the Tobacco Factory asks that everyone attending them has already seen the production in question as it allows the discussion to be deeper and more wide ranging.
Lear, Bristol Old Vic, TBA June – MORE INFO
Three daughters are asked to compete for the wealth of their father, a King made weary by age and on the edge of breakdown. Defeated by his own arrogance and baffled by his daughters' inflated praise, Lear's sanity begins to slide until he is left in a mental wilderness accompanied only by his faithful fool. In this powerful examination of inter-generational conflict, Lear's position of authority as both a ruler and a father disintegrates as his mind betrays him.
British theatre legend Timothy West plays Lear in Tom Morris' reworking of Shakespeare great tragedy. West returns to his beloved Theatre where he has not only appeared in landmark productions of Uncle Vanya and Long Day's Journey Into Night but also worked as associate director and member of the Board of Trustees.
With a cast of acclaimed actors working alongside the stars of tomorrow from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, this production will celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, Bristol Old Vic's 250th anniversary and the Theatre School's 70th anniversary.
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Born and raised in the suburbs of Swansea, Jimmy moved to Bristol back in 2004 to attend university. Passionate about live music, sport, science and nature, he can usually be found walking his cocker spaniel Baxter at any number of green spots around the city. Call James on 078 9999 3534 or email Editor@365Bristol.com.
