Review: The Globe for All series brings SHAKESPEARE: CALL AND RESPONSE to a neighborhood near you

As theatres reopen that means that the Globe For All Tour is bringing this year's show SHAKESPEARE: CALL AND RESPONSE out into the San Diego community. With performances throughout San Diego through November 14th, you can see talented performers in a fast-paced and fun audience interactive show bring Shakespeare plays to life in inventive ways.

No matter where the show is set up, the audience walks into a colorful stage, with interactive crafts and bags of goodies to help everyone get into the spirit. With a DJ Miki Vale keeping the songs and the energy flowing, the cast of characters Eddie R. Brown, III, Sofia Jean Gomez, Christopher Michael Rivera, Anne Son take the stage to perform. While all shows feature Shakespeare's plays, each one is subject to a different twist, and audience feedback and interaction that guarantees no show is ever the same.

I saw the performance at the Chula Vista Public Library and the audience ranged from small children to senior citizens, and the crowd only continued to grow as interested people from the library and the nearby park joined in. From reciting lines to adding feedback that the actors had to adapt immediately, you may have seen these shows before but never quite like this.

One very successful interaction featured a scene from THE WINTER'S TALE, with the audience calling out when they were feeling everything that was being said, or having them immediately adapt the dialogue into modern-day vernacular. Honestly, it might be the most entertaining version of Leontes descent into jealousy and Paulina reading him the riot act that I've seen in a while. Kate and Petruchio from THE TAMING OF THE SHREW got some new directives from the audience as well.

How To Get Tickets
Conceived of and directed by Patricia McGregor the show is fun, vibrant, and brings the theatre ad creates a dialogue between the community, the performers, and in the process transforms Shakespeare into something unique at each performance.

SHAKESPEARE: CALL AND RESPONSE is free to everyone and there are no ticket or registration requirements to attend. The performances are open to the community and seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information please go to www.theoldglobe.org/arts-engagement/globe-for-all

Everyone attending the performance is required to wear a mask while attending for the entire performance.

The Globe for All Tour will be presented with free public performances at the following locations:

• Tuesday, November 2 at 4:00 p.m.: Cal State San Marcos's University Student Union
• Friday, November 5 at 4:30 p.m.: Prescott Promenade
• Saturday, November 6 at 4:00 p.m.: Montgomery-Waller Recreation Center
• Wednesday, November 10 at 3:30 p.m.: Treganza Heritage Park
• Thursday, November 11 at 3:30 p.m.: City Heights Performance Annex
• Friday, November 12 at 3:30 p.m.: Oceanside Civic Center Plaza
• Saturday, November 13 at 3:30 p.m.: Lauderbach Park
• Sunday, November 14 at 3:30 p.m.: Balboa Park

The tour will culminate in a public performance on Sunday, November 14 in beautiful Balboa Park.

Photo Credit: E. H. Reiter