The Northern Comedy Theatre to Present DOING SHAKESPEARE

Following a two-week London run, Doing Shakespeare goes on tour to venues across the UK. Doing Shakespeare follows fictional company of actors as they agree to stage a Shakespeare play but don't think to agree on which one should be (or not to be) before chaos ensues. Steven Arnold, best known as for his fifteen-year stint on Coronation Street as Ashley Peacock, will join the cast of six actors in David Spicer's farcical fusion of Shakespeare's classics.

The Northern Comedy Theatre originally produced the Doing series of zoom-based online performances at the start of the March 2020 lockdown, with titles such as Doing Whodunnit and Doing The Book Club, as well as Doing Shakespeare, earning them six OnComms awards and a special ONEOFF award from The Offies.

Writer David Spicer said, "I've always loved the fun of Shakespeare. During lockdown, laughter was really important. I wrote Doing Shakespeare as an online zoom play to stop us all going a bit mad, but Zoom has plenty of limitations. When you're doing comedy, it's all about timing, and Zoom buffering is a disaster for live comedy. When our producer, Shaun, wanted to do it onstage, I felt released. It hadn't been written for the stage, but it feels like it's coming to where it always should have been. I hope people come along and have fun - if they think they don't like Shakespeare, this is definitely the show for them."

Northern Comedy Theatre were formed in Merseyside in 2015 with the aim of cheering up audiences. Their adaptation of the Doing series follows their premiere of All Above Board written by British comedy legend Nigel Planer, that toured in Summer 2021.

@ComedyNorthern | #DoingShakespeare | northerncomedytheatre.com

Running Time: 1hr 30 mins (including interval) | Suitable for ages 12+

Production Information

Directed by Shaun Chambers Written by David Spicer

Produced by The Northern Comedy Theatre

Cast

Natasha Agarwal, Steven Arnold, Kathryn Chambers, Beth Ascroft, Farron Ronan, Elliot Bailey, Robert Stuart-Hudson

Listings information

11th-12th February

Holroyd Community Theatre, Oswestry

15th February

The Waterside, Sale

18th February

Alma Theatre, Bristol

19th February

The Green Room Club, Carlisle

24th February

The Hope Street Theatre, Liverpool

25th February

Cheltenham Playhouse

11th March

Salford Arts Theatre

12th March

Rhyl Little Theatre

14th March

Preston Playhouse

For full list of dates and venues visit: https://northerncomedytheatre.com/doing-shakespeare-tour