Expect sumptuous period costumes and top-quality performances, while the informal settings mean you’ll find yourself right in the centre of the action. Four plays are performed each night at four different college locations until 26 July, when the programme switches, offering up another four plays to enjoy.
(PLUS Have you heard about Shakespeare on the Roof?)
What’s on:
Richard II (Downing College)
The weak and unwise King Richard II, living in stately splendour, is more interested in spending a fortune on the latest Italian fashions than connecting with the people of his kingdom. Meanwhile, the exiled and popular Bolingbroke learns that Richard has seized lands that are rightfully his, and launches an invasion to take Richard’s crown and win over his noblemen – proving an easy task. But an assassin of dubious allegiance is lurking in the shadows…
Pericles (Robinson College)
Hoping to marry King Antiochus’ daughter, Prince Pericles deciphers a riddle set by the king which reveals an incestuous secret. Now facing death, Pericles flees, eventually meeting King Simonide and winning a jousting contest to marry his daughter, Thaisa, with whom he has a daughter, born at sea. A dramatic series of events follow, including a storm, an assumed death, some pirates and a brothel, all culminating in a family reunion of truly epic proportions.
As You Like It (St John’s College)
A delightful pastoral romp, As You Like It has all the staples of a good Shakespeare comedy: girls disguised as boys, exiled dukes and a clownish sidekick. Fleeing together into the forest of Arden, Rosalind and Celia encounter Orlando, lovelorn for Rosalind. Disguised as a boy, Rosalind instructs him in the ways of wooing, while a shepherdess falls for Rosalind under false pretences.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (King’s College)
In defiance of her father’s wishes, Hermia elopes with Lysander into the woods, followed by Demetrius and Helena. But their affections become entangled thanks to a mix-up with a love potion, deployed by Puck. Meanwhile, Oberon and Titania are quarrelling and a group of clownish actors are staging a play. Possibly Shakespeare’s most captivating comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream lends itself perfectly to the leafy, twilight setting of the gardens at King’s.
Performances begin at 7.30pm, tickets are £15. Arrive early to grab a chair, or bring a blanket and a picnic. Cosy jumpers and waterproofs are a must too; the show will go on come rain or shine!
