Exploring Shakespeare's comedy on East Sussex tour

It plays Printers Playhouse, Eastbourne on Saturday, September 10 at 7.45pm and Sunday, September 11 at 7.45pm; The Mermaid Inn, Rye on Thursday, September 15 at 7.30pm; Half House Farm, Hastings on Saturday, September 17 at 7.30pm and Sunday, September 18 at 3pm; and The Mermaid Inn, Rye on Thursday, September 22, 7.30pm.

Yellow stockings? Ass ears? Masks? Insults? Clown paint? Cakes and Ale? What is it about Shakespeare’s comedies that makes them so popular even 400 years after they were written? Following the success of his one-man show Why Will? in 2021, Bowler Crab's artistic director Stephen John returns to the format, this time exploring Shakespeare's comedies.

“Shakespeare & Comedy features 20 speeches and a myriad of subscriber questions to form a show which asks the central question 'Why is Shakespeare famous for his comedies?'”

Stephen takes a stomp through Shakespeare’s comedies, sharing his experience directing and performing Shakespeare professionally for almost ten years.

Bicker with Benedick, dream with Bottom and mock with Malvolio as Stephen explores Shakespeare’s most famous comic scenes and the rarest alike. A love of laughter and literature encase this charismatic and personal performance, he promises.

“It’s been a pleasure getting back to a full season this year, our first since the pandemic in fact. Last year I embarked on a one-man project to celebrate Shakespeare by performing speeches and scenes from across the 20 plays Bowler Crab had produced to date. Having directed Dream, Antony & Cleopatra and As You Like It as something of a four-course meal this year, Shakespeare and Comedy can be considered as the dessert of our tenth season. Short at just two hours (plus interval) and sweet with some of the Bard’s greatest speeches, I’m confident that the show will both entertain and impress. I presented my one-man show Why Will out of necessity during the pandemic last year and I was certainly surprised when audiences began to ask if I would make more shows like it. Thus, by popular demand, I’ve returned to the format to round off the year for BC.

“It’s a funny thing, the original 2020 Shakespeare and Comedy was a four-person show which was designed to celebrate the 600-year anniversary of The Mermaid Inn in Rye which was cancelled; that script was then adapted into last year’s prototype Why Will, but with a running time of four hours, I ended up editing most of the 2020 show out. Shakespeare and Comedy is made up of much of the leftover moments and thus finds its roots in two distinctly different types of shows and, I’m pleased to say, the show is all the richer for it. I’ve loved devising this show and I’m very much looking forward to exploring the concepts with the people of Sussex this September.”

Tickets www.bowler-crab.com/shakespeareandcomedy or 07801 893115.