Play On Shakespeare Announces Summer 2021 Season

Play On Shakespeare today announced their summer 2021 season. Play On Shakespeare's mission is to enhance the understanding of Shakespeare's plays in performance for theatre professionals, students, teachers, and audiences by engaging with contemporary translations and adaptations.

Summer 2021 Season

Pericles [translation by Ellen McLaughlin]

San Francisco Shakespeare Festival
Various dates

For the 39th season of Free Shakespeare in the Park, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival will stage a hybrid version of Pericles, Prince of Tyre in a new verse translation by playwright Ellen McLaughlin. The production will be presented in four episodes to be performed serially throughout the season. Episodes 1 and 3 will be broadcast live online. Conditions permitting, the season will culminate with Episode 4 and a greatly-anticipated return to in-person park performances.

The episodic plot structure of Pericles lends itself to a Netflix-style performance schedule. Audiences can watch each episode live as it is performed. Each episode will also be recorded. As the summer progresses, the live performance of each new episode will prompt the release of recordings of prior episodes allowing audiences to delve into the story. This includes the final Episode 4, which will be performed in the park and recorded for remote viewing. To experience the story of Pericles in its entirety, audiences can opt to follow each new live performance or binge-watch parts or even all of the play by summer's end.

Performances are free. More info will be posted here shortly.

Macbeth [translation by Migdalia Cruz]

Chagrin Arts
August 7, 8, 14, 15

hagrin Arts & the City of Solon present Shakespeare's Macbeth, in a modern verse translation by Migdalia Cruz, August 7, 8, 14, 15 at Solon Community Park.

Performances are free. More info will be posted here shortly.

Macbeth [translation by Migdalia Cruz]

Theatre Space North East
July 29 - August 1

After a mysterious encounter with 3 witches, Macbeth is driven to desperate acts in order to fulfill the prophecy they made him. Spurred on by his Wife, Macbeth's story unfolds in this open air performance which will take place all around the audience. This is dark and dramatic retelling of a Shakespearean classic, in a wonderful modern verse translation by Migdalia Cruz and as you've never seen it before. Come dressed for the weather and prepared to be emerged in the magic, wonder and want of this incredible story.

More info will be posted here shortly.

A Midsummer Night's Dream [translation by Jeffrey Whitty]

Theatre Space North East

August 26 - August 29

With Theseus and Hippolyta set to marry, they commission a performance for their wedding night. Somewhere in the nearby forest a group of local trades people rehearse for a play in hopes that it will be chosen to be shared in court. In the very same woods, the very same night for loved up teens run away from their parents, caught in a love triangle of four sides while around them the fairy kingdom is fraught with tensions and playing havoc with nature. Join us for this magical retelling of Shakespeare's most popular and endearing comedy, performed in modern verse translation by Jeffrey Whitty.

More info will be posted here shortly.

A Midsummer Night's Dream [translation by Jeffrey Whitty]

Prague Shakespeare Company @ the Prague Castle
July 29-30

Prague Shakespeare Company and Guy Roberts [artistic director] are honored to partner once again with the Summer Shakespeare Festival and Michal Rychlý and Libor Gross to present the sixth year of an English-language Shakespeare production with their new performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, translated by Jeffrey Whitty. The production will also feature Czech surtitles.

Prague Shakespeare Company (PSC) is the professional English-language theatre of the Czech Republic and in previous years for the Summer Shakespeare Festival, they've provided English language productions of the Globe's Hamlet, Patrick Doyle's Shakespeare in Concert, Richard III, Measure for Measure and Othello.

More info will be posted here shortly.

Macbeth; Pericles

Play On Podcasts

Out now

Building upon Play On Shakespeare's mission to enhance the understanding of Shakespeare's plays in performance, Play On Podcasts bring timeless tales directly to modern audiences. Following the success of Macbeth, the series - presented by Play On in partnership with Next Chapter Podcasts - continues with the release of Ellen McLaughlin's Pericles.

Play On Podcasts bring together a team of Award-winning sound designers, composers, playwrights, directors, and performers -- with original music composition and the voices of extraordinarily, gifted artists -- to create aural storytelling experiences. It's a Shakespearean audio adventure.

Listen here. Next in the Play On Podcast series will be A Midsummer Night's Dream, translated by Jeff Whitty and directed by Catherine Eaton. Further details will be announced shortly.