Shakespeare at Winedale 45th Season, July 16 - August 9, 2015
Shakespeare at Winedale 45th Summer Season:
TWELFTH NIGHT, HENRY V, and PERICLES by William Shakespeare
and
THE DUCHESS OF MALFI by John Webster
performed by the Shakespeare at Winedale summer class
July 16 - August 9, 2015
Shakespeare at Winedale Theatre Barn
Winedale Historical Complex, Round Top, Texas
TICKETS: $10 - General Admission; $5 - Student/UT ID Holders
Available at www.shakespeare-winedale.org or (512) 471-4726
Shakespeare at Winedale’s 2015 Summer Class takes the stage this July with performances of Twelfth Night, Henry V, Pericles, and, for the first time in the organization’s 45-year history, John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi.
The season will open on Thursday, July 16th, and run through Sunday August 9th. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 7:30 pm, with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm.
Tickets are $10 for general admission or $5 for students, as well as for UT faculty and staff. Patrons can purchase tickets through the Shakespeare at Winedale website, www.shakespeare-winedale.org, or by calling (512) 471-4726.
The Shakespeare at Winedale program, housed in the College of Liberal Arts at UT, offers students a unique opportunity to explore Shakespeare’s rich and complex texts through the creative act of play. Established in 1970 as an undergraduate English course, Shakespeare at Winedale has grown into a year-round program reaching many different groups across the state and country. Students in the summer program spend two months living in the Texas countryside, studying and performing four plays in the nineteenth-century barn that has been converted into an Elizabethan theatre.
As a part of the celebrations surrounding Shakespeare at Winedale’s 45th anniversary, Dr. James Loehlin, Director and Regents Professor of English, wanted to showcase the immense talent and breadth of early modern theater. “The four plays we are doing this summer represent the four primary genres in which Shakespeare worked, and include one of the greatest plays of the period by one of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, John Webster,” explains Dr. Loehlin. He is also excited by some of the common themes in these pieces, including “the separation and reunion of families, forbidden love across class lines, journeys of discovery and conquest, and above all, the power of language.”
The summer season will open with one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, Twelfth Night. Sending audiences on a roller coaster of love and mistaken identities, who couldn’t fall in love with this feast of music and passion? When Viola is shipwrecked on the foreign coast of Ilyria, believing her twin brother drowned, she disguises herself as a boy, only to fall in love with the Duke she now serves, who loves Olivia, who is loved by Malvolio, who is hated by everyone. This play is a delightful and bewildering comedy that highlights the madness that afflicts all lovers.
After love, the season marches towards war, with Shakespeare’s Henry V. From the palaces in London to the vasty fields of Agincourt, Henry V leads his troops in an all-or-nothing quest for the crown of France. But this campaign will test the limits of bravery and loyalty of Henry and his men. Henry V is a stunning exploration of the human spirit in the face of war.
The season then braves the perils of the sea with Shakespeare’s Pericles. Facing pirates, bawds, assassins, shipwrecks, and goddesses, Pericles must sail across the entire Mediterranean in search of love and family. Adventure after adventure follows, no matter where his ship lands. But miracles are possible in this fairy tale full of twisting destinies and divine intervention.
Rounding out the season is a dangerous return to love with Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi. When the highborn Duchess of Malfi falls in love with her household steward, they hide their secret marriage from the Duchess’ powerful and ambitious brothers. But when the lovers are discovered, the brothers unleash the most horrific kind of revenge possible. This twisted tale of sibling rivalry, forbidden love, and unrestrained madness is a gorgeous piece of poetry from one of Shakespeare’s greatest contemporaries, John Webster.
Thursday, July 23rd, is Fayette County Night; tickets for Fayette County residents are only $4 for that evening’s performance of Twelfth Night, and door prizes will be raffled off for free at the end of the performance. Our annual Season Finale is Saturday, August 8th, beginning at 6:30pm, with a special catered reception and pre-show entertainment before the evening performance of Pericles; all tickets are $25.
For a full schedule of performances or more information about the Shakespeare at Winedale program, please visit our website:www.shakespeare-winedale.org or contact Program Coordinator Liz Fisher at (512) 471-4726 or lfisher@austin.utexas.edu.
