Seattle Shakes Postpones Richard II, Long Day’s Journey into Night and Volpone

Seattle Shakespeare Company announced that due to the ongoing public health crisis, it is postponing its productions of Richard II with upstart crow collective and Long Day’s Journey into Night, by Eugene O’Neill. The fall production of Ben Jonson’s Volpone will move to spring 2021 to join a previously scheduled production of Much Ado About Nothing.

Seattle Shakespeare Company: A free, live stream reading of Shakespeare’s 12th Night June 18 at 7:30 PM

Website: https://www.seattleshakespeare.org/ruffreads/ or
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/seattleshakes

For the second presentation in Seattle Shakespeare’s Ruff Reads series, the company will present an online reading of the comedy Twelfth Night. The reading will feature much of the cast of the 2012 Wooden O production of the play. Audiences can relive their fun summer memories of this hilarious Wooden O production by gathering (but still social distancing!) with family and friends for this digital event. A brief Q&A session on YouTube will follow the event.

Cancellations of the Wooden O productions of The Comedy of Errors and Othello, and Cry Havoc series

Today Seattle Shakespeare Company’s Artistic Director George Mount announced that the
company is canceling the Wooden O shows for the summer of 2020. The theatre is also cancelling its May
special presentation of Stephan Wolfert’s Cry Havoc!
“This summer, considering the dreadful novel coronavirus threat, the prospect of large group gatherings
poses too great a risk to the health and well-being of our audiences and our valued artists and support
teams,” said Mount. “For the safety of us all, this year, we cannot not go forward with Wooden O as usual.”
The cancelled Wooden O productions of The Comedy of Errors and Othello will be rescheduled for the
summer of 2021. Seattle Shakespeare was also to present Cry Havoc! In late May and has cancelled that
event. said Artistic Director, George Mount.

Patrons who have questions about tickets or about donating to Seattle Shakespeare Company may contact
the company through the Ticket Office at 206-733-8222 or online at www.seattleshakespeare.org.
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New Ruff Reads Streaming Series To celebrate William Shakespeare’s birthday week, Seattle Shakespeare will host a FREE live stream reading of Romeo and Juliet with the cast of the company’s spring touring production. Gather with your family, invite your buddies to join, and cuddle at home with your furry friends to enjoy this casual digital […]

Director George Mount leaves no theatrical stone left unturned in his search for innovative ways to stage his rollicking take on Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals. Even before the audience has settled into their seats, on stage, a hurried and hushed discussion takes place between two actors most notably upset. Suddenly they whisk away what appears to be an audience member engrossed in her program while making her way to her seat. She is unceremoniously handed a script and shoved backstage. The show must go on and we all need to do our part! Let the madness begin!

When performing a work of Shakespeare such as Romeo and Juliet, it is essential to not only stay true to the play’s original intent, but also remain unique among thousands of other adaptations. Luckily, Wooden O’s recent production of the tragedy stuck out as a great option for both newcomers and experienced viewers of Shakespearean theatre.

Seattle Shakespeare’s final show of their 2019 indoor season, “As You Like It,” opened at Center Theater last Friday to no shortage of laughs. Kelly Kitchens’ directs this very hipster-esque version of the Bard’s comedy. Despite the enduring popularity of Shakespeare’s works, there’s always a degree of difficulty in adapting his four hundred year old […]

Once again, Seattle Shakespeare Company has creatively updated a classic play and produced a masterpiece. She Stoops to Conquer, one of the 18th Century’s perennial favorites, written by Oliver Goldsmith, was superbly directed by Mikaela Pollock. Emphasizing the essence of the play, comedy and not, because of its age, the museum quality, (needing to be treated with solemn reverence) Ms. Pollock added many brilliant touches: the set, the music, the costumes and especially the topical asides, which both honored the text and animated it.

Seattle Shakespeare is on an impressive roll: their productions now consistently feature some of the most outstanding acting found anywhere in the Northwest. A highly skilled cast is a necessity when it must handle Shakespeare’s prickly All’s Well That Ends Well. The rarely produced show is labeled a “problem play” because it features a naturalistic context in which social issues are debated. Yet Shakespeare insisted on grafting onto this framework a number of comedic elements borrowed from the ancient Italian Commedia dell’arte, as he includes stock characters and some absurd “bed play.” That the play’s hodgepodge of elements blend into a wonderful entertainment is all due to a marvelously adept cast deftly handled by director Victor Pappas.

Seattle Shakespeare’s second production of the year, Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man, is a charming success. The production is directed by David Armstrong at the intimate Center Theater, which was was packed-full, of both bodies and laughs, this Saturday.   While very much a play of its time, the story of Raina Petcoff (Brenda […]