A Showcase of Shakespearean Women: Real & Imagined

Celebrate Shakespeare's 350th Birthday With More Than 50 Of The Bard's Greatest Female Characters In Just Over One Hour!

"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale

Her infinite variety. Other women cloy

The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry

Where most she satisfies!"

-Antony and Cleopatra, William Shakespeare

On Friday April 23rd at 7:00pm, Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School presents the world premiere of a new showcase performance featuring the Bard's best known and best loved female characters in remembrance of the birth of William Shakespeare on 23 April 1654. Adapted and directed by Scott Palmer, the founding Artistic Director of Glasgow Repertory Company (Scotland's National Shakespeare Company) Infinite Variety is both a celebration and an examination of the greatest women created by the greatest writer in the English language.

The script is the result of a co-commission between Toi Whakaari and Glasgow Repertory Company and is receiving its world premiere here in Wellington before it's UK premiere at Glasgow's annual "Bard in the Botanics" Shakespeare Festival.

Divided into a series of four sections featuring different monologues and scenes (both from well-known plays and new scenes devised from sonnets and poetry), the performance promises to be a whirlwind of comedy and tragedy. Included in the performance are scenes and speeches from the best known women in Shakespeare; (Juliet, Lady Macbeth, Rosalind and others) as well as some of the least known women in the canon (Constance, Tamora, Margaret, and Cressida). Each of the four actors in the production deliver lines from at least 15 of Shakespeare's women, meaning that audiences will have the unique chance to see more than 50 of the finest female characters ever written...all in just over one hour!

The performance will take place at Te Whaea: National Dance & Drama Centre in Newtown in Wellington on April 23rd, 2004 at 7:00pm. Entry is free, seating is limited and there is a suggested donation of $5 on the door. No tickets will be sold, so audience members should arrive early to ensure they get a seat.

ENDS

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