Shrunk Shrank Shakespeare - Theatre-Dance Project

Shrunk Shrank Shakespeare: short Shakespeare with a physical bite

What is it?

Shrunk Shrank Shakespeare is an ongoing project focusing on Shakespeare in small, bitesized chunks with a strong emphasis on storytelling through visceral and physical means. It is aimed at everyone from youngsters encountering Shakespeare for the first time through to theatre-goers looking for Shakespeare-with-a-difference. This project takes themes, characters and issues running throughout the works and crafts a series of short pieces around them (e.g. exile, Juliet). Each piece, or chunk, connects the language of the play-text with performers’ bodies, creating lively, movement-based encounters with Shakespeare’s works combined with sound and music. It is a fresh, exciting and imaginative way to engage with classical works.

 

What will the first performance be?

The first Shrunk Shrank Shakespeare production will be themed around ‘summer’. Four short pieces will draw on scenes and speeches which involve or address summer and associated themes and images.

 

Why this project?

Feeling inspired by recent performance work which tapped into a vigorous physical means of connecting with Shakespeare’s text (for the SBT and subsequently with Lucy Hind for NSDF*), I realised that there was something immensely imaginative, inspiring and energising about this approach. As a lover of both the language of classic theatre texts and the physical possibilities they offer for the performing, moving body, I wanted to build on this. I began thinking about how I could develop this further, make it accessible for a wider audience (including children and adults) and also use it to inspire others to engage with and respond to the golden age theatre classics in dynamic ways. This project will celebrate powerful storytelling and nurture a performer-audience relationship true to Shakespeare’s plays. Ultimately, the idea is to show just how creative and playful we can be with these works, whilst staying true to their themes, characters and stories. Shakespeare was a maverick after all…

 

Where will it be performed?

By crafting and presenting small chunks within a short performance, I felt it would give plenty of flexibility and adaptability for taking the project to a variety of locations and performing in a range of venues for different audience groups. It is suitable for small to medium spaces, indoors or outdoors, and anywhere from schools to arts festivals.

 

Cast & Creatives

'Summer': Looking for 2 male and 2 female performers (actors/dancers) aged 18 or over. Students, recent graduates or professional performer able to offer a high level of commitment, with a good level of experience of physical work and willingness to work in a collaborative environment on small-scale work. Please e-mail BethumpedCompany@gmail.com.

Looking for a Producer/Project Assistant to work with the director on the creative and organisation of 'Summer'. Please e-mail BethumpedCompany@gmail.com.

If you are interested in the project and would like to get involved in the future, please get in touch at the above e-mail address.