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Spontaneous Shakespeare Players |
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Schedule of Upcoming Productions
Production History
Julius Caesar
| Open: 05/12/12 Close: 05/20/12
Julius Caesar marks the fourth annual FREE Shakespeare production that SSP has shared with New York audiences at Central Park's Summit Rock. Dedicated to bringing the Shakespeare of olden times to modern audiences, SSP uses original Elizabethan performance techniques—involving audience interaction, cue scripts-in-hand and LOTS of spontaneity—to bring Shakespeare's words to life in a thrilling and hilarious way. This is seriously entertaining Shakespeare, the like of which you have never seen before, performed by actors trained in Original Practice rehearsal techniques. Julius Caesar is performed outdoors for FREE so pack your picnic blankets and Central Park friendly lunches. It’s fun for the whole family! William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, tells the story of history’s most famous emperor, his bloody assassination, and Rome’s subsequent collapse into chaos and civil war. Watch 8 actors perform over 30 roles in the First Folio Style with cue scripts in hand, all in 90 minutes or less. What better way to get ready for the 2012 Election than with a fast and furious, action-packed, production of Shakespeare’s most political play-- Julius Caesar.
Spontaneous Shakespeare Players is a group of professional independent theatre artists who bring the spontaneity and fun of Shakespeare's plays to modern audiences. By using Elizabethan performance techniques, which involve limited to no rehearsal and the ability to instantly bring the Bard's words to physical and entertaining heights, we give our audiences a historical taste of how Shakespeare's plays would have originally been performed.
In Shakespeare's day, the theatre was the premier venue in entertainment--much like today's IMAX, Wiis, and reality television--and his plays possessed a competitive edge that made them popular among yesteryear's audiences. That electricity is sadly often lost in modern performance. The Spontaneous Shakespeare Players, however, strive to not only present these great works of art with historical authenticity but also to entertain audiences with the same moment-to-moment vivacity that wowed Elizabethan and Jacobean groundlings and monarchs alike, so long ago.
Shakespeare's plays were called plays because they were about playing not acting, and our performances bring Shakespeare's plays alive in a way that connects people of all age groups and walks of life. Shakespeare plays are timeless for a reason and we, Spontaneous Shakespeare Players, focus on the text, play only the text, and play hard to make what was new in olden times new again.
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Twelfth Night
| Open: 05/14/11 Close: 05/29/11
Shipwrecked in Central Park!
This May, Spontaneous Shakespeare Players (“SSP”) is back to bring the Bard's Twelfth Night to New York City—the way Shakespeare’s own players performed it.
Twelfth Nightmarks the third annual FREE Shakespeare production that SSP has shared with New York audiences at Central Park's Summit Rock. Dedicated to bringing the Shakespeare of olden times to modern audiences, SSP uses original Elizabethan performance techniques—involving audience interaction, cue scripts-in-hand and LOTS of spontaneity—to bring Shakespeare's words to life in a thrilling and hilarious way. This is seriously entertaining Shakespeare, the like of which you have never seen before, performed by actors trained in Original Practice rehearsal techniques. Twelfth Night is performed outdoors for FREE so pack your picnic blankets and Central Park friendly lunches. It’s fun for the whole family!
William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night follows the journey of the clever and beautiful Viola who wakes up one fateful day in Illyria—shipwrecked and alone. A stranger in a strange land, Viola dons the garb of a young man, calls herself “Cesario” and quickly begins working for the handsome Duke Orsino. Orsino is hopelessly in love with the town beauty Olivia, but she won't give him the time of day. While "Cesario" attempts to gain Olivia's love for "his" master Orsino, love is indeed gotten—but incredibly misplaced. A love triangle blown way out of proportion (truly “too hard a knot ... to untie”!) involving mistaken identities, a set of twins, secret schemes and fun-loving insanity, Twelfth Night sheds a light on that ever-changing and always inspiring theme of life: Love.
DETAILS: Free admission; no tickets required.
We strongly encourage you to bring blankets, cushions or chairs for picnic style seating. | |
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