Forced Entertainment
Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare: At Home
- Film Screening Online Performance
- World premiere
Free admission
Video stream
Duration: 50 Min
In English with subtitles
»A salt and pepper pot for the king and queen. A ruler for the prince. A spoon for the servant. Lighter fluid for the Innkeeper. A water bottle for the messenger.«
36 plays in 36 nights. The idea behind ›Complete works: Table Top Shakespeare‹, with which Forced Entertainment has delighted over 35,000 people in 12 countries since its premiere in 2015, is as simple as it is ingenious. Six performers bring every play ever written by Shakespeare to life using only a collection of ordinary everyday objects as stand-ins for the characters on the one metre stage of a table top.
Fast-forwarding to 2020 and the Coronavirus epidemic, especially with its necessities of social distancing, lockdowns and quarantines, Forced Entertainment find themselves at home, like much of the rest of the world and are set to restage the project online in ›Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare: At Home‹.
For 36 nights, spread out over 9 weeks from 17th September, PACT will be broadcasting the plays direct from the kitchen tables of the performers, each of them currently isolated in different places including Sheffield, London and Berlin. Each play will be preceded by a short performer introduction.
Post-Show Discussions: Each Sunday the performers from that week will host a Zoom Q&A. To register simply email feaftertalks@gmail.com with the date of the post-show discussion you'd like to join.
Overview of all the plays
Week 1
17/09 Macbeth Richard Lowdon
18/09 Pericles Cathy Naden
19/09 The Merchant of Venice Claire Marshall
20/09 A Midsummer Night’s Dream Jerry Killick + Post Show Discussion
Week 2
24/09 Romeo and Juliet Terry O’Connor
25/09 King John Cathy Naden
26/09 Titus Andronicus Robin Arthur
27/09 Much Ado About Nothing Richard Lowdon + Post Show Discussion
Week 3
01/10 Hamlet Terry O’Connor
02/10 Love’s Labours Lost Robin Arthur
03/10 The Winter’s Tale Cathy Naden
04/10 All’s Well That Ends Well Claire Marshall + Post Show Discussion
Week 4
08/10 Richard II Terry O’Connor
09/10 Henry IV Part 1 Jerry Killick
10/10 Henry IV Part 2 Jerry Killick
11/10 Henry V Claire Marshall + Post Show Discussion
Week 5
15/10 Henry VI Part 1 Richard Lowdon
16/10 Henry VI Part 2 Richard Lowdon
17/10 Henry VI Part 3 Richard Lowdon
18/10 Richard III Claire Marshall + Post Show Discussion
Week 6
22/10 Measure for Measure Cathy Naden
23/10 Coriolanus Jerry Killick
24/10 The Merry Wives of Windsor Terry O’Connor
25/10 King Lear Robin Arthur + Post Show Discussion
Week 7
29/10 Twelfth Night Jerry Killick
30/10 Cymbeline Terry O’Connor
31/10 Julius Caesar Robin Arthur
01/11 Antony and Cleopatra Cathy Naden + Post Show Discussion
Week 8
05/11 Two Gentlemen of Verona Claire Marshall
06/11 Troilus and Cressida Jerry Killick
07/11 As You Like It Robin Arthur
08/11 Othello Cathy Naden + Post Show Discussion
Week 9
12/11 The Taming of the Shrew Claire Marshall
13/11 The Comedy of Errors Terry O’Connor
14/11 Timon of Athens Robin Arthur
15/11 The Tempest Richard Lowdon + Post Show Discussion
›Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare: At Home‹ is financially supported by the following partners: PACT Zollverein (Essen); Kanuti Gildi, Püha Vaimu SAAL (Tallinn); Kunstfestspiele Hannover; Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt / Main); Romaeuropa Festival (Rom); Shakespeare Festival Neuss; Center for the Art of Performance, UCLA (Los Angeles); The Mondavi Center, UC Davis; Stanford Live at Stanford University; UC Santa Barbara. Also presented as part of the ›Time-Based Art Festival 2020‹, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art and Temporada Alta 2020.
Conceived and devised by Forced Entertainment Performance: Robin Arthur, Jerry Killick, Richard Lowdon, Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden, Terry O’Connor Director: Tim Etchells Text: Robin Arthur, Tim Etchells, Jerry Killick, Richard Lowdon, Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden, Terry O’Connor Technical: Jim Harrison
