Shakespeare’s birthday is celebrated with
special performances on Cherry Hill stage
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| The Michigan Shakespeare Festival will celebrate the 459th birthday of the bard himself with special pricing for three productions in Canton Township this summer. |
The annual Shakespeare's Birthday Sale will continue only until April 30 offering $35 tickets for the summer performances. Celebrating its 27th season, the Michigan Shakespeare Festival productions will begin July 18, and continue through Aug. 20, at The Village Theater at Cherry Hill.
Planned performances include Macbeth as well as Pericles, Prince of Tire and one non-Shakespearean classical piece - Georges Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear.
Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Janice L. Blixt, the Michigan Shakespeare Festival brings a fresh perspective to the Shakespeare canon each season, while introducing audiences to other classical and modern works, noted a festival spokesman.
With their combined professional talent and skills, the company of actors and artisans makes these plays fresh and easily understood by a modern audience, he added.
In the tragedy of Macbeth “something wicked this way comes . . .” as three witches make a prophecy to a proud warrior that he will be king of Scotland - but will it be through his own actions or the decisions of others? A violent and intense tale of controlling ambition and scruples ignored, Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most famous and admired works, filled with unforgettable speeches, scenes, and characters.
Pericles, Prince of Tyre, is the story of young Prince Pericles of Tyre, who survives a shipwreck and lands in Pentapolis where the king is having a tournament to find the best knight to wed his daughter, Thaisa.
A seldom-produced Shakespearean play - with parts contributed by other playwrights - Pericles is an example of the pageantry and theatrical style of the Jacobean era - filled with magic, fairy tale intrigues, and unforgettable characters.
Georges Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear tells the story of jealous spouses reacting to real or possibly imagined infidelities. When happily married Raymonde begins to question whether her marriage really is happy and wonders if her husband, Victor Emmanuel, might be cheating on her, she confides in her best friend Lucienne and the two devise a plan to test him. What follows is a farce of mistaken identities, mistaken rooms, and mistaken motives.
Tickets for each of the shows can be purchased online at https://www.michiganshakespearefestival.com or through The Village Theater at Cherry Hill Box Office by calling (734) 395-5300.
The Michigan Shakespeare Festival is now headquartered at the Plymouth Arts and Recreation Complex (PARC). For more information, contact the festival at (517) 998-3673 or visit michiganshakespearefestival.com.
