The
ShakeFest
is a miniature Shakespeare festival for book
clubs or other groups to perform, especially designed for adults or teens
who know nothing about his work or have no interest in it. You can just enjoy the party, or be edified by it, or both (e.g., my friend Tom, who hates Shakespeare but exclaimed, "this is pretty fun!").
NO memorization is required, but hamming it up and extreme creativity are encouraged! My own friends have done Ophelia in drag, Hamlet and his mother with sock puppets, and Ariel's report to Prospero in PowerPoint; and my cat has played the role of Macbeth (see the video: Kitty Karaoke Macbeth).
The
Fest text includes some of the juiciest excerpts from eleven plays,
together with brief introductions giving an idea of what’s
going on, plus pointers to “deeper” meanings. The text also includes pics from my own friends' party/performance in 2003 (and you can see more visuals from subsequent Fests here: 2005, 2007, and 2008).
Also on this site
is a separate PDF containing Shakespeare
Biographical and Historical Supplements, the relatively short, sweet companion guides I myself would like to have had
while first reading the plays.
The ShakeFest text is in Adobe PDF format and contains 87 pages. If you have difficulty viewing or printing
the ShakeFest or Supps, or if you have any question about what we've learned while inflicting this production on innocent bystanders over the years, please e-mail me at
carolyn(a)c-cyte.com. Enjoy!
