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Tickets for SHAKE Festival 2023 ARE SELLING FAST
HURRY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT via links below
Event tickets from £6 – £20
Saturday pass £60/£30 (21 and under) – Tickets are available HERE
Sunday Pass £40/£20 (21 and under) – Tickets are available HERE
Weekend Pass £90/£45 (21 and under) – Tickets are available HERE
SCHEDULE, SATURDAY 7th OCTOBER 2023
11.15am – 12.15pm: Professor Katherine Scheil of the University of Minnesota – The Women of Stratford Upon Avon. A riveting talk about how women have helped shape ‘Shakespeare’s Stratford’ over the last three centuries.
12.45-1.45pm:
Dame Janet Suzman– “A Squeaking Cleopatra? I don’t think so” – 50 mins talk plus Q&A.
Suzman played Cleopatra famously at Stratford with Patrick Stewart & Ben Kingsley in the cast and then directed it with Kim Cattrall - after a lifetime getting to know the Serpent of old Nile, Dame Janet tells us why she thinks Shakespeare's Cleopatra is so special. 2.30-4.30pm: Alex Jennings and Laurence Edwards – The Actor and the Portrait: Spectacular performance, live sculpture and discussions from two outstanding talents who need no introduction....(including interval). This is going to be explosive! £15/£10 TICKETS HERE
5.15-6.30pm: Wendy Morgan in Mr & Mrs Macbeth – a rehearsed reading of a one woman tragedy commissioned specially for the festival. £15/£10 TICKETS HERE
8.00-9.00pm: Laura Wright in Songs & Sonnets – the dazzling TV soprano presents songs and spoken verses from Shakespeare. £20/£12 TICKETS HERE
Doors open 20 minutes before each performance
SCHEDULE SUNDAY 8th OCTOBER 2023
9.30-10.30am: Jubilee Opera – the children’s opera company from 13 local authority schools perform Benjamin Britten songs and William Shakespeare texts with guest star Malachy King playing Oberon. £12/£6 TICKETS HERE
11.15am – 12.15pm: Sir Stanley Wells – What Was Shakespeare Really Like? The revered Shakespeare scholar presents excerpts from his superb new book, in conversation with Dr Paul Edmondson. £15/£10 TICKETS HERE
1.00-2.00pm: Annabel Arden – Shakespeare, Commedia & the Tradition of Play. One of our most brilliant stage directors and co-founder of Complicité, talks about the hilarious Italian style of comedy that so influenced the early modern theatre. £15/£10 TICKETS HERE
3.00-3.45pm: Bold & Saucy Wrongs – The Ipswich-based band perform their touching and funny original songs based on Shakespeare’s characters. £15/£10 TICKETS HERE
4.30-5.30pm: Alan Cox & The School of Night – Alan Cox, Dylan Emery, Sean McCann, and Oliver Senton dice with death in Shakespearean comedy improv. Hilarious originality from the company started by Ken Campbell. £15/£10 TICKETS HERE
Doors open 20 minutes before each performance
ADDITIONALLY, at ALDEBURGH CINEMA Sunday 8th October at 2.30
NB this event is not included in weekend or day passes from Aldeburgh Jubilee Hall
This year we are proud to include our Eco-Leaflet, King Lear and the Natural World, by JULIA BLACKBURN at all events
PRIVATE DONATIONS
Mackintosh Foundation, Mrs Carol Boyle, Mrs Xanthe Mosley, Ms Raana Hosseinpour
Ms Kirsten Hecktermann, Mr Paul Raphael, Ms Karen Dotrice, Mme Leslie Caron, Ms Sasha French
Mr Bill Batten, Spectra Packaging, Ms Rebecca Hall, Ms Sara Keene, Ms Lucy Forman
Mrs Victoria Seale Jones, The Backstage Trust, Ms Emma Thompson
Mr Stephen Fry, Professor Jean Gooder
SEPTEMBER 2023
Leo Wringer, Jenny Caron Hall and Laura Wright
performed songs, sonnets, extracts from Antony & Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream plus
a short talk on Shakespeare's verse and the influence of Petrach's Canzoniere 132,
at the Hurlingham Club, London on September 1st.
AUGUST
VERONA INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL - MASTERCLASSES
Jenny Hall had an amazing time giving two masterclasses
JUNE 2023
We had a great time at FirstLight Lowestoft, doing a verse workshop
(Barnaby Taylor, Beth O'Halloran and Jenny Hall) Saturday June 17th
2022
The 2nd SHAKE Festival weekend was held 24-25 September 2022
at The Cut arts centre in Halesworth, Suffolk UK
WHAT PEOPLE SAID
Very uplifting and inspiring ♦ A spectacular success
What a big-hearted, fascinating, generous festival! ♦ Compelling and funny
It was like a really thrilling, stimulating party ♦ I loved it very much
I loved hearing Edward Hall talk ♦ I loved the whole weekend ♦ It was hugely enjoyable
Great fun and a brilliant experience ♦ Do we have to wait a whole year for the next one?
I really loved it ♦ I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day ♦ I loved every minute of it
What a lovely atmosphere ♦ It was inspiring and stimulating and utterly wonderful from start to finish
I had a lovely time at SHAKE and it was very inspiring for me ♦ Very special
The weekend has brought back to me why I fell in love with theatre
THE LINE-UP
1. GERALDINE JAMES - Playing Portia and Imogen - Talk
2. EDWARD HALL - The Making of Propeller Theatre Company– Talk
3. ALAN COX - The Taming of the Shrew -
a wild workshop with Wendy Morgan, Alistair Hall, Richard Blaine, Helen Adie and Katie MacRae
4. BOLD AND SAUCY WRONGS - Original songs - Music Performance
5. STEPHEN UNWIN - Poor Naked Wretches -Talk
6. Issy van Randwyck & Stefan Bednarczyk- Kiss Me Kate & West Side Story- Musicals Workshop
7. Prof GRACE IOPPOLO - Henslow/Alleyn Archive -Talk
8. PETER HAMILTON DYER - Globe Performance Workshop
9. TIM FITZHIGHAM & THOM TUCK – Mr & Mrs Scottish Play - Comedy Performance
10. DIANA QUICK - Venus & Adonis (1593)- Reading
11. PAUL BENNEY – Video Art- Theatre Backwall
12. JENNY HALL – The Book of Thomas Moore - Verse Talk
13. MALACHY KING & FRIENDS - Sonnets - Reading
PAST PRODUCTIONS, PAST FESTIVALS
Summer 2021
A fully rehearsed reading, performed live and streamed to YouTube on July 31st, 2021, at 19:30
Due to the rise of the Delta variant and concerns for the safety of our 25-strong team,
we performed on Zoom rather than at Sands Films Studios, as originally planned.
CAST
Cast: Oliver Cotton, Mark Quartley, Charlotte Hamblin, Wendy Morgan, Leo Wringer, Maia Jemmett,
Tim Fitzhigham, Barnaby Taylor, Michael Mears, Rob Myles, Pamela Miles, Alistair Hall,
Louis J. Rhone, Helen Adie, Malachy King, Josh Fish, Andrew Mockler and Katherine MacRae.
Music by Oliver Wass and Finn Collinson. Animated painting backdrop by Paul Benney
Directed by Jenny Hall.
REVIEWS AND FEEDBACK
"Well done to SHAKE Festival and to superb Winter's Tale cast and Jenny Caron Hall for last night's moving
rendition of top Shakespeare, voiced & realised on zoom. Remarkable technical achievement."
Allegra Productions
"Mark Quartley is a towering Leontes" Maryam Philpott, The Review Hub
"Strong supporting performances from Charlotte Hamblin’s dignified Hermione, Leo Wringer’s kindly and wise Camillo
and especially Wendy Morgan as a forceful and grave Paulina whose few scenes are a particular highlight."
Maryam Philpott, The Review Hub
"Tim Fitzhigham’s Autolycus steals the show with actor-musicianship,
with inter-scene interludes from Oliver Wass on the harp and Finn Collinson on the recorder.
Barnaby Taylor’s Florizel was highly engaging, while Maia Jemmett as his lover Perdita makes the most
of the relatively few lines she has." London Theatre 1.
"that was really superb - everyone was so very good in every way and it was totally absorbing" (audience member)
"Il faut ainsi saluer les superbes performances, notamment de Mark Quartley (Leonte), Charlotte Hamblin (Hermione),
Wendy Morgan (Paulina) pour la dimension tragique ou de Leo Wringer (Camillo) ou Tim Fitzhigham (Autolycus)
pour la dimension comique voire farcesque. Et dans le rôle de l’émouvante Perdita,
la jeune Maia Jemmett, (fille d’Irina Brooke) fait des étincelles." Laetitia Hearteau, pour Esprit Paillettes
A Midsummer Night's Dream was performed once, live, online on 31st March 2021
Dan Stevens and Rebecca Hall starred as Oberon/Theseus & Titania/Hippolyta.
Luisa Omielan played Bottom the Weaver, Robert Hands played Peter Quince
Wendy Morgan played Puck, Mark Quartley played Snout/Wall,
Joseph Blatchley played Starvelling/Moonshine and Egeus was played by David Sibley.
The four Lovers were Daniel Bowerbank, Máiréad Tyers, Barnaby Taylor and Louis Rudnicki,
Mia Lakha (The Prince of Egypt, West-End) and her sister Lana Lakha were Mustardseed and Moth.
East Anglian locals: Malachy King, Daisy Martineau and Phoebe Martineau the fairies,
and Tim Fitzhigham (Flute/Thisby), Ed Hughes who played Snug/Lion and Richard Blaine who played Philostrate.
Reviews & Audience Feedback
"Jenny Hall's emphasis on her starry reading of the play via Zoom lay very much with the text,
which looked to be in safe hands at a rehearsal I eavesdropped on the previous week."
Matt Wolf, The New York Times.
'Dan Stevens' suave performance as Oberon was a prime asset." The Times.
"Rebecca Hall...simply seducing the screen with generous lashings of old-fashioned sex appeal." The Arts Desk.
"A strong cast and a classic work allow this production to transcend limitations of the digital format." The Stage.
"Jenny Caron Hall brought a captivating reading filled to the brim with stars to our screens last night
as part of her SHAKE Festival, which last year saw Geraldine James starring in The Tempest." Broadway World.
Absolutely brilliant.. cast was amazing.. Thank you SHAKE festival...we were transported.
what are you doing next? We can't wait
(audience member)
"It was brilliant! So many highlights. Impeccable timing and superb cast!" Paul O.
I found that I noticed the beauty and the poetry of the language more than in a theatre.
Maureen H.
Made me laugh a lot!" Sam R
"Thank you so much for bringing the theatre to our home (upper Bavaria, in my case)!
Amazing performance - And those amazing young people should have had
FLOWERS thrown to them! " Sabine
23rd December 2020, Tea-time
A Selection of Sonnets and Music, starring Harriet Walter and Janet Suzman
with Wendy Morgan, Tim Fitzhigham, Ben Elder, Katherine MacRae and Barnaby Taylor
"So moving and beautiful. Feels like an absolute gift today to have watched you all." Andrée C.
"A light in the darkness. Some order amongst the confusion. Thank you so much.
Some calm in the storm. We loved it."
Louise C.
'Thank you so much. I had forgotten how much I missed the wonder and beauty of Shakespeare. I loved it.' Jane H.
'I have never listened so carefully, and so enjoyably' Peter A.
'You got the whole atmosphere without props or scenery, and Prospero's last speech brought tears to my eyes'.
Everyone was so good.' Caroline W.
'Geraldine James's Prospero was wonderful - she brought such a different hue to the part and the play' Fiona M.
'OMG totally enthralling. Loved it all. Congratulations to all — now that's how to zoom Shakespeare!' Liz W.
'Wonderful voices, bringing the whole play vividly to mind!' Jean G.
The Shakespeare Festival based in Suffolk, UK
SHAKE is a new Shakespeare Festival which began life at The Cut art centre in Halesworth, Suffolk, UK in 2019. The creative director is Jenny Hall.
The first weekend of events in 2019 revolved around workshops, films, talks with Q&A, music, poetry readings, dance, performance, and feasting!
Jenny Hall was invited to create this festival at The Cut by the late James Holloway. Since the pandemic struck, we've become producers of fully rehearsed online play readings, under the name, SHAKE Festival Presents.
Tickets for our events and performances are usually available from our BOX OFFICE on Ticketsource
With grateful thanks to our Friends, Volunteers and Supporters: Victoria Seale Jones, Genevieve Christie, Sara Keene, Diana Hiddleston, Janine Edge, Carol and Oscar Graves-Johnston, Lysie Kihl, Julia Sowerbutts, Caroline Wiseman, Rob Gildon and Colin Tricker at Benhall Lodge Estate Office, and Peter, Sam, Aafke and Simon Raven at The Cut.
SHAKE Festival began in 2019 as an unincorporated Community Club, generously supported by the Backstage Trust, the Golsoncott Foundation, Rodney and Zmira Hornstein, Geraldine Harmsworth, Scarfe Trust, Suffolk County Council, East Suffolk Council, The Mackintosh Foundation, Spectra Packaging, Charnwood Milling Company Ltd, Micronizing Company Ltd in Framlingham and a benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous.
In June 2021, SHAKE FESTIVAL CIC was registered at Companies House as a Community Interest Company or CIC.
Our Directors are Jenny Hall, Aafke Groeneveld, Dame Harriet Walter, Geraldine James OBE and Alys Kihl. Our CIC company number is 13459942
Please feel free to Email us at info (@) shakefestival.com
