![]() ![]() 5 at River Walk Pavilion in Washington Depot. The William, no doubt, means Shakespeare. Shakesperience’s next “Shakespeare in the Litchfield Hills” show, “Romeo & Juliet,” won’t be until August of next year, but the company is holding a special fundraiser for it this summer, a musical revue called “Wanda Loves William.” The Wanda in the title refers to Wanda Houston and her HBH Band, a jazz act with R&B/Soul proclivities. Shakesperience Productions: ‘Wanda Loves William’ 11 and 12 at Riverfront Recapture’s Mortensen Riverfront Plaza, 300 Columbus Blvd., Hartford. 8 and 9 at Enfield United Church in Enfield and Aug. The Fool in the Forest festival this year offers the forest fantasy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” staged as if “five plumbers try to put up Shakespeare’s classic tale of nearly 20 characters in 60 minutes.” If you know the play-within-the-play, it kind of makes sense. Evergreen Family Theatre: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ $20, $14 student/senior, group discounts available. ![]() There are opening acts before the play happens from choral groups to lectures. Performances are July 13-30 on the lawn outside the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford on Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. The Hartford-based Capital Classics company runs one of the oldest outdoor Shakespeare festivals in the state. Greater Hartford Shakespeare Festival: ‘Macbeth’ East in Shelton and July 20-23 at Quarry Walk, 300 Oxford Road in Oxford. “The Importance of Being Earnest” plays in two locations: July 13-16 in Veterans Memorial Park, 38 Canal St. Moving several centuries forward from the era of the playwright it is named for, the Valley Shakespeare Festival is doing Oscar Wilde’s riotous Victorian comedy “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which has a lot of elements in common with some of Shakespeare’s plays, including mistaken identities, reunited family members, overbearing parents and multiple marriages. Sometimes Shakespeare festivals take a break from Shakespeare. Valley Shakespeare Festival: ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ Free, but you can reserve special seats for $25. For its summer Shakespeares, the company will work outdoors July 13-16 and 20-23 at 7:30 p.m., performing the eerie island fantasy “The Tempest.” The park opens at 6 p.m. has a complex of indoor theater spaces and studios at Sterling Farms, 1349 Newfield Ave. Curtain Call: ‘The Tempest’Ĭurtain Call Inc. The shows in Mystic and Hampton are free, the others cost $25, $20 for students, seniors and active military or $100 for families of four or more. Just a week after “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” ends its run, Flock Theatre presents the rousing coming-of-age history play “Henry IV Part 2” in a single location, the Connecticut College Arboretum, from July 27-30 and Aug. Within that same period, the company also plays Mystic Seaport on July 14 and the town green in Hampton on July 15. The show shifts to the arboretum at Connecticut College in New London on July 12, 13 and 20-23. This year Flock Theatre, which is known for inventive stagings and the use of pageantry and puppetry, has already performed “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Westerly, Rhode Island. New London’s Flock Theatre knows how long summer can be and does two Shakespeare productions in multiple locations. Flock Theatre: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Henry IV Part 2’ Here’s a guide to outdoor Shakespeare shows (and one non-Shakespeare one) in Connecticut this summer. Several of the Shakespeare companies that exist in Connecticut today, including Capital Classics’ Greater Hartford Shakespeare Festival and New Haven’s Elm Shakespeare Company, started back then. While Stratford’s fortunes were waning, an outdoor Shakespeare movement took hold in the 1980s and ‘90s, fueled by arts grants and a demand for summer cultural activities. There have been many attempts to revive the festival, but now it would also have to be completely rebuilt, as the building (a facsimile of the Globe Theatre of Shakespeare’s London) was destroyed by arsonists in 2019. The theater succumbed to financial difficulties over 30 years ago. From the 1950s into the 1990s, the place to beat was the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, founded by John Houseman with casts that might include the likes of Katharine Hepburn or Christopher Plummer. Outdoor Shakespeare has been a staple of summer theatergoing in Connecticut for decades. ![]()
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