SHAKESPEARE THEATRE’S 2011-2012 SEASON TO FEATURE CONTROVERSIAL O’NEILL PLAY; TWO VERSIONS OF TWO GENTLEMEN
Shakespeare Theatre Company today announced that it will be performing Eugene O’Neill’s controversial Strange Interlude and an adaptation by David Ives as well as four plays from the Bard during its 2011-2012 25th anniversary season.
The O’Neill play, which was originally banned in many cities but eventually made into a movie, was one of the first theatrical productions to deal with abortion. The company did not announce whether the production, which Michael Kahn will direct, will use O’Neill’s original four-hour script in full or an edited version. The play will run from March 27 to April 29 of next year.
The four Shakespeare plays include a reprise of the company’s Julius Caesar, which will be presented at no cost to audiences at Harman Hall August 18-September 4, 2011 and two versions of Two Gentlemen of Verona – a production of the play Shakespeare wrote January 17 to March 4, and a three day (January 27-29) production of the rock opera version, with book by John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation) and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare and music by Galt MacDermot (Hair). Other Shakespeare productions include Much Ado About Nothing (November 23 of this year through New Year’s Day) and The Merry Wives of Windsor (June 12 – July 15, 2012).
The Company will feature a second Shakespeare-based Musical, Richard Rogers’ The Boys from Syracuse (based on The Comedy of Errors) November 4-6 of this year.
Shakespeare Theatre will also be presenting an adaptation from the prolific David Ives (New Jerusalem, A Flea in Her Ear, The Liar) of the Jean-François Regnard comedy The Heir Apparent, (September 6 – October 23, 2011) and The Servant of Two Masters, written by Carlos Goldoni and adapted by Constance Congdon (May 15-July 12, 2012).
In addition to all of these productions, the company announced its intention to present a single-day staged reading of all three Henry VI plays. The date of this reading, which is expected to run twelve hours, is unannounced.
