WordStage Opens its 2017-18 Season with THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS

WordStage Literary Concerts opens its 2017-18 season with George Bernard Shaw's one act comedy "The Dark Lady of the Sonnets." Friday, September 22, 2017 at 7:30 PM, The Wright Chapel at the Lakewood Presbyterian Church - 14502 Detroit Ave. at Marlowe in Downtown Lakewood, OH

This 1910 short comedy deals with Shaw's imagined event in which William Shakespeare, intending to meet the "Dark Lady", accidentally encounters Queen Elizabeth I and attempts to persuade her to create a national theatre. The play was written as part of a campaign, ardently supported by Shaw to create a "Shakespeare National Theatre" by 1916.

The play refers to the "dark lady", who is the addressee of Shakespeare's sonnets 127 to 152, so-called because her hair is said to be black and her skin "dun."

In the sonnets, the poet is apparently involved in a sexual relationship with the Lady, but it is implied that she is unfaithful to him, perhaps with the "Fair Youth", the young man who is the addressee of most of the other sonnets.

Featuring actors Agnes Herrmann, Marci Paolucci, Paul Slimak and Tim Tavcar - with keyboardist Patrick Wickliffe providing incidental music of the period on the harpsichord.

Admission is at the door via a suggested donation of $10, but WordStage maintains its policy of "pay what you can" to encourage anyone interested in our performance to attend.

For more information, please visit our website at www.wordstageoh.com or call 216-712-6926.

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