The annual feast of Shakespeare at the colleges is just around the corner
Whether you’re planning your first visit to see a play at the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival (CSF) or you’re an old hand who comes back year after year, you’re in for a real treat. There’s something about the combination of timeless theatre, wonderful actors and balmy summer weather (if you’re lucky) in the idyllic surroundings of a College garden that makes being in this wonderful city in the summer even more special. Add in a picnic, or some nibbles and a glass of something chilled and sparkly – you can bring your own to enjoy before the play starts – and you’ve got the recipe for the perfect summer’s evening.
The festival’s format is a run of four plays in July, followed by four more in August. The July season starts on the 9th and goes through to the 28th, with performances Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm. Also keep a lookout for special afternoon charity performances of some of the plays. The productions feature traditional Elizabethan dress, and aim to make Shakespeare accessible and enjoyable even for those who aren’t familiar with the plays, so a trip to the festival is a great way to introduce children and teenagers to the wonders of the Bard.
Each play takes place in a different college garden: King’s College will be hosting A Midsummer Night’s Dream – a Cambridge Shakespeare Festival favourite, and it’s easy to see why. With its themes of love and loss, fairies and forests, magic and mysticism, it’s pretty much the perfect play to enjoy in the idyllic surroundings of one of Cambridge’s most famous college grounds.
Over at St John’s College gardens you can enjoy The Taming of the Shrew, another of Shakespeare’s best-known plays. Two sisters, Bianca and Katherine, could not be more different. While suitors are queuing up to marry Bianca, the girls’ father, Baptista, is adamant that his older daughter must marry first. But Katherine is a bit of a handful, being the ‘shrew’ of the play’s title, neither is she very keen on the idea of marriage – and finding a willing suitor proves to be something of a challenge.
Head to Downing College gardens for The Merchant of Venice. Antonio, the merchant of the play’s title, has borrowed money from Shylock, a moneylender, to be repaid when his ships dock in the city. But Shylock has demanded a terrible price if he should be unable to repay the debt. This play addresses themes of tolerance, justice and mercy, and Shylock is one of Shakespeare’s most famous and controversial characters.
Finally, in Trinity College gardens there’s the chance to see Cymbeline, a play set in a Britain beset by division and conflict, teetering on the brink of isolation and alienation. Sound familiar? The story sees Imogen set out in search of her poor-but-worthy husband Posthumus, banished by her father, the King of Britain, who deems him unworthy of his daughter’s hand. It’s one of Shakespeare’s less well-known plays but is well worth a visit for its themes of love, betrayal and ultimate redemption.
August sees four more wonderful plays from CSF: Macbeth, The Comedy of Errors, Pericles and Twelfth Night, so stay tuned to Edition for lots more information about what to expect.
