The American Shakespeare Center continues to celebrate 35 years and the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio.
In downtown Staunton, the center contains the Blackfriars Playhouse — the world’s only re-creation of playwright William Shakespeare’s indoor theatre.
The center’s fall season will bring “Hamlet,” “Coriolanus” and “Much Ado About Nothing” to the Blackfriars stage.
“Again and again, we turn to Shakespeare for the words to describe the workings of the heart,” ASC Artistic Director Brandon Carter said. “In the rage of Hamlet and the unbending pride of Coriolanus we find the emotions that sear our souls — only to find our hearts melting as all healing love finds the reluctant couples of Much Ado About Nothing. Imagine the poverty of our language without Shakespeare! In the company of these indelible and all-too-human characters, enrapt by Shakespeare’s immortal words, we close our 35th Anniversary season.”
A royal family unravels in the thrilling drama of “Hamlet,” which comes to the stage September 28 to November 18. Denmark’s Prince Hamlet is shatter by his father’s death and horrified by his mother’s hasty remarriage to his uncle. As Hamlet plots revenge, madness consumes him.
From October 26 to November 18, class war and the struggle for equity and justice brings the story of warrior “Coriolanus” to the stage. Pride and power make a deadly mix in this Shakespeare tragedy. Washington Post theatre critic Peter Marks once said: “I arrived a skeptic, I left a believer.”
One of Shakespeare’s most beloved romantic comedies, “Much Ado About Nothing” continues through November 19. Feel the joy of love won and the ache of love lost as the story makes you laugh, breaks your heart and then somehow puts it back together again.
The American Shakespeare Center is at 10 South Market St., Staunton. Tickets are available online.
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Rebecca Barnabi
