Shakespeare North Playhouse
Midsummer Mechanicals
Shakespeare North PlayhouseThe Olivier Award nominated Midsummer Mechanicals is back for Summer 2023 at The Globe, but before opening in London the show has completed a very limited run at Shakespeare North Playhouse. Set one year after the mechanicals performed Pyramus and Thisbe, Nick Bottom (Kerry Frampton) and Peter Quince (Jamal Frankin) are trying to get the group back together to perform a new show. Unfortunately, the script isn’t complete, Francis Flute (Sam Glen) has gone through puberty which poses a problem for him to play the female roles, and Tom Snout isn’t available so his wife Patience (Melody Brown) has decided to take his place, but as a female she legally can’t perform.
Saving Shakespeare: Murder, Magic & Mayhem
Shakespeare North PlayhouseDeveloped by A Place For Us CIC in 2022, Saving Shakespeare is an energetic frolic through some of Shakespeare’s most iconic works. The premise of the show is William Shakespeare, or Will I Am as he refers to himself, has arrived at court to perform his latest production. Unfortunately, Will has forgotten the script, and none of the actors have turned up. His only hope are two women who aren’t even legally allowed to act.
Lights On Lights Off
Shakespeare North PlayhouseAs part of their programme to celebrate The Bard’s birthday, Shakespeare North Playhouse’s production of Lights On / Lights Off is a remarkable exploration of The First Folio. Utilising Elizabethan style rehearsals, local actors, and improvisation, Lights On / Lights Off is a production made up of a scene from each of the 36 plays that make up The First Folio; 18 of them with the theatre lights on, and 18 of them by candlelight with the theatre lights off.
Comedy of Errors
Shakespeare North PlayhouseThe Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays and features an almost Parent Trap style mix up of identical twins. In the original play, Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse visit Ephesus and end up confused with the Antipholus and Dromio that live there, leading to a lot of slapstick, declarations of love and a commotion around a necklace. A new, modernised version produced by Shakespeare North Playhouse and Stephen Joseph Theatre transports the action to the 1980’s and the towns of Prescot and Scarborough where each theatre is located.