24 July
All’s Well That Ends Well & The Taming of the Shrew – BUY TICKETS NOW
Divadlo Na Pradle, 7pm
Two short Shakespeare plays in one evening:
All’s Well That Ends Well
All’s Well That Ends Well is one of Shakespeare’s most overlooked Romantic and Comic masterpieces. Helen heals the King of France, and the King grants her permission to marry Bertram, the man she loves. Bertram rejects her and leaves a list of tasks that she must do to have him acknowledge their marriage. She follows him to Italy, completes all the tasks, and Bertram accepts her as his wife. Directed by PSC Associate Artist Laura Cole and starring PSC Associate Artist Suzanne Dean as the Countess alongside participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive
The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is Shakespeare’s great battle of the sexes. Lucentio loves Bianca but cannot court her until her shrewish older sister Katherina marries. The eccentric Petruccio marries the reluctant Katherina and uses a number of tactics to render her an obedient wife. Lucentio marries Bianca and, in a contest at the end, Katherina proves to be the most obedient wife. Directed by Christine Schmidle and starring PSC favorite Patrick Bentley alongside participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive
25 July
Romeo and Juliet & A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream – BUY TICKETS NOW
Divadlo Na Pradle, 7pm
Two short Shakespeare plays in one evening:
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story ever written. An age-old vendetta between two powerful families erupts into bloodshed. A group of masked Montagues risk further conflict by gatecrashing a Capulet party. A young lovesick Romeo Montague falls instantly in love with Juliet Capulet, who is due to marry her father’s choice, the County Paris. With the help of Juliet’s nurse, the women arrange for the couple to marry the next day, but Romeo’s attempt to halt a street fight leads to the death of Juliet’s own cousin, Tybalt, for which Romeo is banished. In a desperate attempt to be reunited with Romeo, Juliet follows the Friar’s plot and fakes her own death. The message fails to reach Romeo, and believing Juliet dead, he takes his life in her tomb. Juliet wakes to find Romeo’s corpse beside her and kills herself. The grieving family agree to end their feud. Directed by Dmitry Troyanovsky and starring participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive
A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is Shakespeare’s most famous and beloved comedy. Four Athenians run away to the forest only to have Puck the fairy make both of the boys fall in love with the same girl. The four run through the forest pursuing each other while Puck helps his master play a trick on the fairy queen. In the end, Puck reverses the magic, and the two couples reconcile and marry. Directed by Kymberley Mellen and starring participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive
26 July
The Merchant of Venice & Hamlet – BUY TICKETS NOW
Divadlo Na Pradle, 7pm
Two short Shakespeare plays in one evening:
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is Shakespeare’s great meditation on bigotry, class and revenge. Antonio, an antisemitic merchant, takes a loan from the Jew Shylock to help his friend to court Portia. Antonio can’t repay the loan, and without mercy, Shylock demands a pound of his flesh. The heiress Portia, now the wife of Antonio’s friend, dresses as a lawyer and saves Antonio. Directed by Alasdair Hunter and PSC Artistic Director Guy Roberts and starring PSC Associate Artist Irwin Appel as Shylock, Jeffrey Smith as Old Gobbo and Kymberley Mellen as the Duke of Venice alongside participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive. This production will also perform in Venice, Italy at Teatro a l’Avogaria on 3 August.
Hamlet
Hamlet is the most famous play ever written. The ghost of the King of Denmark tells his son Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet’s uncle. Hamlet feigns madness, contemplates life and death, and seeks revenge. His uncle, fearing for his life, also devises plots to kill Hamlet. The play ends with a duel, during which the King, Queen, Hamlet’s opponent and Hamlet himself are all killed. Directed by PSC Associate Artist Dawn Stern and PSC Artistic Director Guy Roberts and starring PSC Associate Artists Jim Johnson, Carolyn Johnson, Jovanna Hepburn, Patrice Francis and Stephan Wolfert alongside participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive. This production will also perform in Venice, Italy at Teatro a l’Avogaria on 2 August.
27 July
The Comedy of Errors & The Tempest – BUY TICKETS NOW
Divadlo Bez Zabradli, 7pm
Two short Shakespeare plays in one evening:
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare’s hilarious story of mixed-up identity and discovering long-lost family. After both being separated from their twins in a shipwreck, Antipholus and his servant Dromio go to Ephesus to find them. The other set of twins lives in Ephesus, and the new arrivals cause a series of incidents of mistaken identity. At the end, the twins find each other and their parents and resolve all of the problems caused earlier. Directed by PSC Associate Artist Jennifer King and PSC favorites Detra Payne and Owen Lindsay alongside participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive. This production will also perform in Venice, Italy at Teatro a l’Avogaria on 2 August.
The Tempest
The Tempest is Shakespeare’s final play written entirely by himself for the stage. Prospero uses magic to conjure a storm and torment the survivors of a shipwreck, including the King of Naples and Prospero’s treacherous brother, Antonio. Prospero’s slave, Caliban, plots to rid himself of his master, but is thwarted by Prospero’s spirit-servant Ariel. The King’s young son Ferdinand, thought to be dead, falls in love with Prospero’s daughter Miranda. Their celebrations are cut short when Prospero confronts his brother and reveals his identity as the usurped Duke of Milan. The families are reunited and all conflict is resolved. Prospero grants Ariel his freedom and prepares to leave the island. Directed by PSC Associate Artist Kiara Pipino and starring PSC Associate Artists Jennifer Le Blanc as Prospero, Jeff Mills as Gonzalo, Josh Morrison as Alonso alongside participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive. This production will also perform in Genova, Italy as part of the Teatro Lunaria Festival on 1 August and in Venice, Italy at Teatro a l’Avogaria on 3 August.
Prague Shakespeare Company, bremer shakespeare company, Odesa Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater
in association with Letní shakespearovské slavnosti present the We Are Hamlet Project production of
HAMLET
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Guy Roberts
Performed in English, German, Ukrainian, and Czech
Czech surtitles with translations by Martin Hilsky
PSC in association with Letní shakespearovské slavnosti at Prague Castle – Prague, Czech Republic
23 August at 20:30 – BOOK TICKETS NOW
The EU Creative Europe Grant program is supporting a ground-breaking and historical theatre collaboration between the the Prague Shakespeare Company in Prague, Czech Republic, bremer shakespeare company in Bremen, Germany and The Odesa Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater named after Vasyl Vasylko in Odesa, Ukraine to create a unique theatrical experience: the WE ARE HAMLET Project’s production of Shakespeare’s timeless classic: HAMLET.
The WE ARE HAMLET Project is a new multi-lingual, English-language based theatrical reimagining of William Shakespeare’s HAMLET created by an international company of diverse artists, theatre makers and educators collaborating together to enlighten, inspire, educate and entertain audiences across Europe and the world. The Artistic Team of HAMLET will be comprised of artists from each partner theatre, working together under the direction of Guy Roberts, Artistic Director of PSC.
HAMLET, by William Shakespeare, is the single play in the Western tradition that encompasses the central questions of existence that applies to all humans across social, political, economic, educational, environmental, religious and racial boundaries. It is a quintessential European play rooted in classical principles of examining the essential questions – Who Am I? Why Do I Exist? What Must I Do?
Through live theatrical performances in Germany, the Czech Republic and Ukraine as well as other international theatre festivals within and without Europe and a large educational initiative supported by a special documentary chronicling the journey of the project, WE ARE HAMLET stimulates the imagination and fires the creativity of people across Europe and especially in Ukraine, giving us hope for the future and a model of international cooperation and mutual trust and understanding through the performing arts.
Cast
Svea Auerbach: Hamlet & Polonius
Jessica Boone: Hamlet
Gregory Gudgeon: Hamlet & Horatio
Karel Hermanek ml.: Hamlet, Bernardo & Rosencrantz
Alina Katrechko: Hamlet & Ophelia
Renee Lamari: Hamlet & Ophelia
Tim Lee: Hamlet & Guildenstern
Taylor Napier: Hamlet, Marcellus & Laertes
Guy Roberts: Claudius
Erik Roßbander: Hamlet, Ghost, First Player, Lucianus, Priest & Fortinbras
Vera Timofeeva: Hamlet, Second Player, Player King & Gravedigger
Olena Zavhordinova: Hamlet & Gertrude
Creatives
Director & Adaptation: Guy Roberts
Stage & Costume Designers: Heike Neugebauer with Ulrike Schimitschek
Lighting Designer: Přemysl Janda
Composers: Patrick Neil Doyle & Ivan Zavgorodnii
Assistant Director: Martina Lübbing
Stage Manager: Renee Lamari
Shakespeare Consultant: Professor Paul Prescott
Touring Technican: Kai Henkhus
Production
Producers: Renate Heitmann, Tim Lee, Yulia Pivovarova, Oleksii Remishevskyi, and Guy Roberts
Project Coordinators: Oleksandr Samusenko
Administrator: Anna Aleff, Martina Lübbing
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of CREATIVE EUROPE. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Financováno Evropskou unií. Názory a názory vyjádřené jsou však pouze názory autora (autorů) a nemusí nutně odrážet názory Evropské unie nebo CREATIVE EUROPE. Evropská unie ani orgán poskytující podporu za ně nemohou nést odpovědnost.
PAST PERFORMANCES – 2024 SUMMER SEASON
29 June
Lisa Wolpe’s Shakespeare & the Alchemy of Gender
Estates Theater, 3pm
Romeo and Juliet: What’s In A Name?
performed in English and Arabic
Estates Theater, 4:30pm
Hamlet – EU Creative Europe co-production PSC, bsc, OAUMD
performed in English, German, Ukrainian, Czech and Chinese
Estates Theater, 7pm
30 June
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Estates Theater, 3pm
Romeo and Juliet: What’s In A Name?
performed in English and Arabic
Estates Theater, 4:30pm
Hamlet – EU Creative Europe co-production PSC, bsc, OAUMD
performed in English, German, Ukrainian, Czech and Chinese
Estates Theater, 7pm
11 July
Measure for Measure & Titus Andronicus
Divadlo Bez Zabradli, 7pm
Two short Shakespeare plays in one evening:
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is now often thought of as Shakespeare’s #MeToo play but it is so much more. A deeply insightful, dramatic and funny examination of the public image people present and who they really are underneath. The Duke leaves Angelo in charge of Vienna, where he quickly condemns Claudio to death for immoral behaviour. Angelo offers to pardon Claudio if his sister, Isabella, sleeps with him. Isabella agrees but has Angelo’s fiance switch places with her. The Duke returns to spare Claudio, punish Angelo, and propose to Isabella. Directed by Alasdair Hunter and starring participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive
Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare’s most bloody play. The Roman general Titus Andronicus returns from war with four prisoners who vow to take revenge against him. They rape and mutilate Titus’ daughter and have his sons killed and banished. Titus kills two of them and cooks them into a pie, which he serves to their mother before killing her too. The Roman emperor kills Titus, and Titus’ last remaining son kills the emperor and takes his place. Directed by Kevin Hopkins and Claire Nichols and starring PSC Associate Artist Josh Morrison as Titus alongside participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive
12 July
Twelfth Night & Macbeth
Divadlo Na Pradle 7pm
Two short Shakespeare plays in one evening:
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s comedy of love and mistaken identity. Viola, separated from her twin Sebastian, dresses as a boy and works for the Duke Orsino, whom she falls in love with. Orsino is in love with the Countess Olivia, and sends Viola to court her for him, but Olivia falls for Viola instead. Sebastian arrives, causing a flood of mistaken identity, and marries Olivia. Viola then reveals she is a girl and marries Orsino. Directed by Dani Bedau and starring participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive
Macbeth
Macbeth is Shakespeare’s soaring tragedy of ambition and desire. Three witches tell the Scottish general Macbeth that he will be King of Scotland. Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth kills the king, becomes the new king, and kills more people out of paranoia. Civil war erupts to overthrow Macbeth, resulting in more death. Directed by PSC Associate Artists Dawn Stern and Stephan Wolfert starring participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive
13 July
The Merry Wives of Windsor & Troilus and Cressida
Divadlo Bez Zabradli, 7pm
Two short Shakespeare plays in one evening:
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is Shakespeare’s only domestic comedy written at the request of Queen Elizabeth asked for a play with Falstaff in love. Falstaff decides to fix his financial woe by seducing the wives of two wealthy merchants. The wives find he sent them identical letters and take revenge by playing tricks on Falstaff when he comes calling. With the help of their husbands and friends, the wives play one last trick in the woods to put Falstaff’s mischief to an end. Directed by Paige Rogers and starring PSC Associate Artists Jim Johnson as Falstaff and Jovanna Hepburn as Mistress Ford alongside participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive
Troilus and Cressida
Troilus and Cressida is Shakespeare’s epic tale of love and betrayal during the Trojan War. Trojan prince Troilus falls in love with Cressida, as war rages around them. After vowing to be faithful, Cressida is traded to the Greek camp, where she then agrees to see another man. Troilus witnesses Cressida’s unfaithfulness and vows to put more effort into the war. The play ends after further deaths on both sides, and with no resolution in sight. Directed by PSC Associate Artist Brendon Fox and starring PSC Associate Artists Jennifer Le Blanc as Odysseus, Samantha Kaufman as Thersites, Patrice Francis as Menelaus and Dr. Kathryn Moncreif as Priam alongside participants from the PSC 2024 Summer Shakespeare Intensive