EDUCATION PACK COMPLETE WORKS: TABLE TOP SHAKESPEARE
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EDUCATION PACK
COMPLETE WORKS:TABLE TOP SHAKESPEARE
ABOUT FORCED ENTERTAINMENT
“BRITAIN’S MOST BRILLIANT
EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE COMPANY”
THE GUARDIANWhere are Forced Entertainment based?Sheffield, United Kingdom.
How long have Forced Entertainment been together?The company met at Exeter University and have been making work together since 1984.
Who are Forced Entertainment?Forced Entertainment are (above - left to right): Claire Marshall (performer), Terry O’Connor (performer), Robin Arthur (performer), Tim Etchells (Artistic Director & performer), Cathy Naden (performer) and Richard Lowdon (designer & performer).
What are Forced Entertainment?Forced Entertainment are a group of six artists who make work in theatre and performance and tour to audiences all around the world. The work explores and challenges what theatre and performance can be and what it can mean in contemporary life, always pushing and often breaking the accepted boundaries and conventions.
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So goes the famous line spoken by Coriolanus in the original play...
Shakespeare has been translated into more than 100 languages throughout the world and remains today one of the most universally celebrated authors in history.
In the last 10 years there have been over 7 professional productions of Shakespeare and Shakespeare adaptations in Arabic and productions of Romeo and Juliet in more than 24 countries.
Since 1960, Hamlet has been published or performed in more than 75 languages!
Shakespeare then, is something of a relentless force in the world, and Complete Works is a great chance for you to experience them all, condensed and uncomplicated, in the intimate and unique manner that Forced Entertainment tell them.
This is the UK’s most famous playwright meets one of the UK’s most exciting contemporary theatre companies - this is Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare.
Don’t miss it.
THERE IS A WORLD ELSEWHERE...
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ABOUT COMPLETE WORKS
What about the Table Top part?One of the key ideas behind Complete Works is to take the most famous plays in the world - famous for their grand language, grand settings, grand characters and grand production values - and introduce a little intimacy and simplicity to them. And it starts with reducing the stage down to a simple 1 metre wide x 2 metres long table top.
So how does it work?One performer sits at a table. The table top is the stage. Using everyday, ordinary objects to represent the characters, and speaking in everyday, ordinary language, the performer narrates the story at the heart of the play.
What is it?This is Forced Entertainment’s latest project. As you can guess from the title - Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare - it involves the complete works of William Shakespeare.
Even the poems?Alright, the complete dramatic works of Shakespeare - all of his plays (with the exception of Henry VIII, as there are serious questions over its true authorship).
How many’s that?36. Everything from The Two Gentlemen of Verona to The Two Noble Kinsmen.
Take a look at the Complete Works trailer.4
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SHAKESPEARE SIMPLIFIED
There are no five hour long Hamlets to be found here - each play is condensed down to between 45 minutes and an hour. They are performed in cycles of three plays per evening and six plays per day on weekends.
You are free to see as many or as few as you want - you may like to see those you’re familiar with or try some you’ve never seen before.
The language is playful, amusing and easy to understand, making
for a unique and intimate experience of Shakespeare.
When you think of Shakespeare plays, what do you think of? Pretty long, sometimes a little tricky to understand, and unless you’re a hardcore fan, you’re maybe familiar with the classics - Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth - but perhaps not so with ones like Timon of Athens, Henry VI Part I, II & III and The Comedy of Errors.
Complete Works is back-to-basics Shakespeare. It strips away the fancy sets, lighting, costume, actors and even the archaic language. What it leaves behind are the captivating stories at the heart of it all.
Each performer’s role is to be the all-present storyteller, using the table-top characters in a kind of lo-fi puppetry, retracing the plot. They are your guide through Shakespeare’s canon. Check out the MAKING OF film with Tim Etchells here.
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ALL THE WORLD’S A TABLE TOP STAGE...
Saturday 8th April11am Henry VI Part 1 12pm Henry VI Part 2 1pm Henry VI Part 3 4pm Richard III 5pm Coriolanus6pm The Merry Wives of Windsor7pm Antony and Cleopatra8pm Loves Labour’s Lost9pm The Merchant of Venice10pm A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Sunday 9th April 11am Troilus and Cressida 12pm King John1pm As You Like It4pm Cymbeline5pm All’s Well That Ends Well6pm Timon of Athens7pm Othello8pm Twelfth Night9pm The Taming of the Shrew10pm The Tempest
Tuesday 4th April7pm Macbeth 8pm Comedy of Errors9pm Measure for Measure10pm King Lear
Wednesday 5th April7pm Romeo and Juliet 8pm The Winter’s Tale 9pm Two Gentlemen of Verona10pm Titus Andronicus
Thursday 6th April7pm Much Ado about Nothing8pm Julius Caesar9pm Pericles10pm Hamlet
Friday 7th April 7pm Richard II 8pm Henry IV Part 19pm Henry IV Part 210pm Henry V
Below is the full Complete Works schedule at Teatre Lliure. Take a look and find out when you can catch your favourites!
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Complete Works Selfies
Complete Works casts everyday objects to play the part of the characters in Shakespeare’s plays. All together there are 663 individual objects acting in the 36 plays we present!
From your own home, choose items from either your kitchen, bathroom or garage to create a scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays. How would you cast it? Make a list of the objects and what characters they play. Describe what’s happening in the scene, take a picture of your scene and tweet us with it! Don’t forget the hashtag #CompleteWorks!
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To quiz or not to quiz, that is the question...Think you know your Richards from your Henrys? Your Wives of Windsor from your Gentlemen of Verona? Take our Shakespeare quiz and test your knowledge!
1. Where was William Shakespeare born?2. Hamlet was the Prince of which European country?3. What were the names of the two families in Romeo and Juliet?4. Who prophecised that Macbeth would be King?5. Which is the only Shakespeare play set in Spain?6. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, what happens to Bottom’s head?7. What is the name of the famous London open-air theatre in which Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed?8. Shakespeare wrote plays for the courts of two English monarchs. For one point each, can you name them?9. In Much Ado About Nothing, Claudio falls madly in love with Antonio’s daughter. What is her name?10. 2016 marked 400 years since Shakespeare’s death, but in what year was he born?
Bonus Question (for all you hardcore Shakespeare fans): What is the name of the ‘lost play’ which Shakespeare wrote, based on an episode in Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote?
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
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Answers:1. Stratford-Upon-Avon / 2. Denmark / 3. Montagues & Capulets / 4. The Three Witches / 5. Love’s Labour’s Lost /6. It is transformed into the head of an ass / 7. The Globe Theatre / 8. Elizabeth I & James I / 9. Hero / 10. 1564 / Bonus: Cardenio
0 - Comedy of Errors1-4 - “It’s all Greek to me...”
5-7 - Shakespeare Aficionado8-10 - Upstart Crow
11 - The New Shakespeare
FURTHER INFORMATION
502 Workstation | 15 Paternoster RowSheffield | S1 2BX | UKT: 0114 279 8977 | F: 0114 221 [email protected]
A large print version of this pack is available on request, please contact:[email protected]
Forced Entertainment is a limited company (company no. 2170819, VAT no. 8640 09), and a registered charity (no. 1049574). The company is also a member of the Independent Theatre Council.
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