Wordplay: A New Play by William Shakespeare is the newest offering in the Always Free! Bankside Festival this summer. A zany mix of Waiting for Guffman antics and Waiting for Godot absurdity, this world premiere work plays Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays in the Rose Footprint Theatre through September 6. Written by Wolfe Coleman and Tom O’Keefe. Directed by Bill Barclay. Costumes by Jim Day. Photos by Danny Kurtz.
Shakespeare & Company’s first original full-length production written specifically for the Rose Footprint Theatre, The Mad Pirate and the Mermaid, closed on August 30th. Written and directed by Michael Burnet with original music by Bill Barclay, the show was rife with pirates, lovers, villains, square-rigged ships, identical twins, women of ill-repute, utter foolishness, gun battles, heartbreak, sword fights, three men in a boat, musical numbers, swashbuckling, redemption and a real live mermaid! While tickets to the show were free (part of our annual free Bankside Festival) and broke records in both attendance and donations at the Rose Footprint Theatre. Here’s a look back at the show’s swash-buckling mayhem.
