A salt and pepper pot for the king and queen. A ruler for the prince. A spoon for the servant. A water bottle for the messenger.
Two performers create condensed versions of some of Shakespeare’s most iconic plays, creating lovingly made miniatures played out on a one metre table-top. In Selected Works the dynamic force of storytelling is explored in a unique and highly accessible way. Each work re-tells the story of a Shakespeare play using ordinary everyday language and bric-a-brac objects as stand-ins for the characters, creating worlds as vivid as they are strange.
Thursday 26th November
Coriolanus
Anti-elitism in ancient Rome: plebeians versus patricians – and in the middle of it all, a rumbling stomach.
Measure For Measure
Duke Vincentio attempts to combat widespread moral decay measure for measure. But even show trials and the death penalty do little good
Friday 27th November
The Winters Tale
A jealous husband tyrannizes his wife, his child and his best friend. To get to a happy ending takes 16 years and the discovery of a coastline in “Bohemia”.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
What joyous loving, hunting, joking, conjuring, cuddling, scaring and taunting in the forests near Athens, complete with a play within a play and enough characters for every school theatre company.
Saturday 28th November
Twelfth Night
But what do you want? Cesario loves Orsino. Orsino loves Olivia. Olivia loves Cesario. But Cesario isn’t really Cesario: she’s Viola.
Othello
Tragedy, murder, suicide. Love, prejudice, jealousy, betrayal – what’s not to like?
“It’s a reminder that one person – armed with a story and some bric-a-brac – can create colossal worlds.”- The Stage
Selected Works is a Forced Entertainment production.
Conceived and devised by Forced Entertainment
Performers
Jerry Killick and Cathy Naden
Director
Tim Etchells
Text
Jerry Killick and Cathy Naden
Design
Richard Lowdon
Sound & Lighting Design
Jim Harrison
Production Management
Jim Harrison
Producer
Eileen Evans
Show DETAILS
Venue Space
Studio
Length
90 mins plus interval
Age Guidance
Suitable for 14+
They excel in their simplicity
The Stage
If you told me a few days ago I would feel genuine empathy for a bottle of Tabasco, I’d have probably laughed in your face and called you crazy. But that’s exactly how I found myself during an afternoon of Table Top Shakespeare
A Younger Theatre
Forced Entertainment’s series of table-top plays performed with household items is in a great tradition of storytelling that keeps Shakespeare alive
The Guardian
