Shakespeare's Bones
Many theatre companies throughout the world regularly present Shakespeare’s plays in very different ways. The approach we take revolves around providing answers to this contention:
"Taking as a given truth Richard Eyre’s statement that Shakespeare gave us the DNA of our Theatre, how then can it best be passed down the line to firstly give new and sustainable life to his own work, and also to create new work that is inspired, influenced by, or flows out from the tradition Shakespeare worked in?"
New plays - inamoment theatre
Our new plays are inspired by and draw heavily on the style and works of William Shakespeare. We have written and performed 11 re-imaginings of Shakespeare's original plays and 2 plays that take us into the workings of Shakespeare's mind and life.
Our approach of staying faithful to the original works by putting them into very different settings results in a startling rejuvenation of the text, giving them a whole new life and meaning.
The Process
Each of our projects starts with an understanding of a chosen Shakespeare work. We then 'mine' it for anything that would make a different sense in an alternative context.
We workshop selected characters, words, and themes to discover alternative possibilities, staying faithful to the creative genius of Shakespeare.
The workshop material provides us with ideas of how the characters/themes can be recreated in another guise, using additional new words.
Re-imagining Shakespeare's original plays, and creating plays that draw on Shakespeare's life, are a good way of re-ordering Shakespeare's Bones, using Shakespeare’s DNA to create completely new works.
An Alternative Perspective
These alternative POVs allow us to use the original play's themes, characters and words. However, in doing so, we are also allowed to subvert them, as determined by the 'givens' of the new play's setting, which questions their original assumptions.
When we link what we know about Shakespeare's life with what we find in his plays, a rich seam of creative energy is unleashed. Aspects of his life inform the works he created.
What links all the new plays:
Shakespeare’s original words and characters feature strongly throughout.
New words written to blend with/complement original words.
Major themes from the original are re-explored from different angles
Our Learning
Our work to date has uncovered:
It is possible to write new words in such a way that they do not detract from, or jar with, the accompanying Shakespeare words
Each of the plays are able to present themes and character developments that complement those found in the original plays, but are at the same time significantly different
Audiences of the new plays may be motivated to revisit the original Shakespeare, keeping his work alive
A whole new format of play is available to audiences that is very different to that of the original; they are shorter in length, have all characters on stage throughout, and are less plot-driven.