The news is out there: we’re writing a book. Oh yes.
“Keeping Shakespeare Alive, Not Dead” will detail our journey into Alternative Shakespeare, how and why we believe that Shakespeare needs to be a living legacy.
Our Crowdfunder is well under way and we can’t wait to have more people join us on the journey of publishing the culmination of our 20 years of work.
But, what’s it all about?
Before you pledge your support, it’s probably best we tell you a little bit of what’s going into the book, and where the ideas of Alternative Shakespeare have come from…
So, here’s what’s behind the book:
Our Alternative Approach
A totally new, alternative, approach is needed if we are to keep Shakespeare truly alive; it will not take long for the relevance of his work as he wrote it to considerably diminish.
Our deep-held contention is that to carry on just performing Shakespeare in the same form it was written is to do a great disservice to his work.
Just performing the original plays by continuing to set them in different times/places, twisting the material to fit our contemporary issues and themes, and 'messing around' with his words generally, has the effect of mummifying them as museum pieces.
Creating something new
When we use Shakespeare’s works to create AlternativeShakespeare, we realise there is so much in what he created that has been ignored over the last 400 years
Just as important as keeping his works alive is to keep alive the processes that brought them into existence in the first place.
Examples of our plays and the work we do will be included, to support our contentions and to give readers a base of knowledge and truth.
Spreading the word
The book will hopefully inspire others to take on board our experiences to create their own works based on Shakespeare.
Ultimately our work is about helping everyone to have direct access to Shakespeare's legacy - Teachers, Academics, and Theatre Practitioners all have their value, but we believe it's so much better if we can all connect with Shakespeare’s words without having to necessarily go through 3rd parties.
Above all, the book aims to be a battle cry for existing and future Theatre makers, researchers, funders, and lovers of Shakespeare to shift their minds to other ways of approaching Shakespeare.
For more information, check out our Crowdfunder page here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/keeping-shakespeare-alive-not-dead-1
So, what do you think? Are we crazy?
We don’t expect everyone to agree with us – we’re just challenging the accepted ideas of what Shakespeare is and what Shakespeare should be – we’ve not been struck down by a curse so far and we’ve been writing Alternative Shakespeare works for 20 years!
In fact, we intend to carry on doing it for years to come - any extra donations will be set aside to cover future the costs of promoting more of our work, so please do consider giving as generously as you can.
Long may it continue…