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Where to enjoy Shakespeare this summer
The Bard is making his presence known, with al fresco performances up and down the UK
Midsummer's night may be behind us, but nothing says "British summer" more than enjoying one of Shakespeare's plays in a beautiful setting. From the Globe Theatre to pubs, National Trust houses and parks, we've found the plays to watch this season, and where to see them.
National Trust houses
There is a wealth of performances of many of Shakespeare's works across National Trust properties this summer. On Sunday 6 August, the Chamberlain's Men will perform an all-male version of The Comedy of Errors at Hatchlands Park in Surrey (pictured top). It's one of Shakespeare's earliest and most farcical plays about mistaken identity and a separated family. Meanwhile, across a number of other properties from Lancashire and Wiltshire to Worcestershire, bike-powered acting troupe the Handlebards will be performing two of Shakespeare's comedies. The group of four girls and four boys cycle between performances and incorporate their wheels into shows. This summer the girls will be touring a performance of As You Like It – which sees exiled lovers Rosalind and Orlando challenging ideas of gender and identity – and the boys will be performing A Midsummer Night's Dream, both until 16 September.
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In the Bard's hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon, the RSC are running Titus Andronicus until 2 September. A play, which – the company say – is a commentary on the way the world is going this year. As Shakespeare's bloodiest play, it focuses on Titus returning to Rome from a decade at war against the Goths, which took 21 of his sons. After Titus kills the son of the Queen of the Goths and holds her as one of his prisoners, she plots against him and a cycle of violent revenge ensues.
One of the RSC's other summer productions is The Tempest, at London's Barbican Centre until 18 August. The comedy sees Prospero usurped as the Duke of Milan and cast to sea with his baby daughter, only to be shipwrecked on a desert island for years, with just the local witch, her son and a spirit for company. The former duke exacts his revenge, commanding the seas to shipwreck his enemies.
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On the banks of the Thames, the Globe Theatre will host Twelfth Night (until 5 August), Much Ado About Nothing (14 July–15 October) and King Lear (10 August–14 October). In Twelfth Night, shipwrecked and separated twins, Sebastian and Viola believe each other to be dead. Viola, in her grief, disguised as a boy, goes into the service of the Duke Orsino. Viola is sent to woo the duke's preferred lady, Countess Olivia, on his behalf, but confusion, crossed loves and chaos follows. This performance of Much Ado About Nothing, set in 1914, has had a Mexican makeover. Claudio and Benedick are returning from the revolution. Benedick loves Claudio's cousin, Beatrice, and she loves him, but as neither will admit it, Benedick is forced to prove his love by promising to kill. In King Lear the ruler decides to retire, but faces the consequences of dividing his kingdom among his three daughters. He soon learns of the diminished respect he commands without a crown and discovers where his children's loyalties lie.
Throughout the season, Fuller's Brewery pubs are running Shakespeare in the Pub Garden, with quirky, site-specific performances across a number of their establishments in London, Oxford and along the south coast. Performances of The Comedy of Errors will run until 16 September. At Cambridge's Shakespeare Festival, eight of the Bard's plays are being performed between July and August, including The Merry Wives of Windsor and Antony and Cleopatra. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, a down-on-his-luck Sir John Falstaff attempts to seduce the wives of two local aristocrats. The women discover Sir John has approached them both and one of their husbands also discovers there has been an advance made on his wife. Expect fidelity, duels and bribery in this witty story of jealousy and lies. Meanwhile, in Antony and Cleopatra, Mark Antony has been ignoring his ruling duties, choosing instead a life of seduction with his mistress, Cleopatra of Egypt. In this story of choosing love over duty, the downfall of both parties is inevitable. All plays in the Cambridge festival are performed outside in the gardens of various Cambridge University colleges – a quintessentially British affair.
