The Play’s the Thing: Shows Inspired by Shakespeare

Though the works of the great William Shakespeare premiered onstage in the late 16th and early 17th century, they continue to leave a significant mark on contemporary theatremakers. Here are some of the witty, dramatic and out-of-the-box plays and musicals inspired by Shakespeare’s poems and stage works.

INSPIRED BY SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDIES

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Dreamland by Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4w, 4m, 18 any gender + optional ensemble)
Its Shakespeare with aliens! An over-the-top, B-movie-style musical comedy with a score that blends contemporary musical theatre pop with the smooth sounds of the 1950s, Dreamland is a musical riff on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, set during the declassification of Area 51.

Ken Ludwig’s Midsummer/Jersey by Ken Ludwig (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 10w, 5m)
Midsummer/Jersey is the hilarious high-octane retelling of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream set on the boardwalk of a seaside town in modern-day New Jersey. The story revolves around the impending marriage of the Governor of New Jersey, the love affairs of four beach-bound high school crushes, a lively crew of fairies, and the staff of the local beauty salon (run by Patti Quince and Stylist Nikki Bottom).

Ken Ludwig’s Shakespeare in Hollywood by Ken Ludwig (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4w, 8m)
It’s 1934 and Shakespeare’s most famous fairies, Oberon and Puck, have magically materialized on the Warner Bros. Hollywood set of Max Reinhardt’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The mischievous magic of moviedom sparkles in this hilarious comic romp.

As You Like It

As You Like It by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 5w, 6m + ensemble)
A ravishing new musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic story of chance encounters and self-discovery, As You Like It is an immersive, dreamlike tale of faithful friends, feuding families and lovers in disguise. Featuring an original folk-pop score by Shaina Taub, with a flexible-sized cast and 90-minute running time, As You Like It is appropriate for all audiences and groups. Fall under love’s spell with this magical story!

Like You Like It by Sammy Buck and Daniel S. Acquisto (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5w, 4m)
All the world’s a mall in this totally awesome musical mashup of Shakespeare and John Hughes. It’s 1985 and the brand new Arden Mall is hosting a high school dance. Bookworm babe Rosalind wants to go with varsity wrestler Orlando, but she’s never had the guts to talk to him. Rosalind disguises herself as a frat dude named Corey and discovers Orlando’s true feelings for her. But things get tricky when Corey complicates the lives of three other couples at Arden. Filled with memorable ’80s-inspired tunes, a hip sense of humor and heart, it all works out like you like it if you take the biggest risk of all: being yourself.

Cymbeline

Cymbeline Refinished by George Bernard Shaw (US)
(Short Play, Comedy / 1w, 10m)
Playwright George Bernard Shaw supplies a better ending for Cymbeline in this short adaptation. In it, Shakespeare’s melodramatic devices, Posthumous’ dream, the Queen’s death and Cymbeline’s identification of Guiderius by a birthmark are eliminated. Instead, Imogen chides Posthumous for trying to have her killed and neither of the long lost sons wants to be King.

Making Nice by Alan D. Haehnel (US/UK)
(Short Play, Comedy / 4w, 8m)
The curtain opens on Cymbeline, lost in the dark woods, calling plaintively for rescue as wolves prowl closer and closer. All of a sudden, “No, no, no!” rings out from the back of the theater, and a disgruntled, dictatorial director barges down the aisle, furious at the actress, the cast, and the entire crew in this comedic play departing from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline.

Love’s Labour’s Lost

The Groundling by Marc Palmieri (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 4m)
In this touching and hilarious contemporary comedy, a Long Island landscaper – inspired by a production of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost – resolves to write a play about his troubled marriage.

Measure for Measure

Desperate Measures by David Friedman and Peter Kellogg (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 2w, 4m)
This witty and wild new musical comedy takes the Bard’s Measure for Measure and shakes things up with a toe tappin’ score by award-winning composer David Friedman. When the dangerously handsome Johnny Blood’s life is on the line, he must put his fate into the hands of a colorful cast of characters, including a mysterious sheriff, an eccentric priest, a narcissistic governor, a saloon girl gone good, and a nun out of the habit. Featuring fresh and feisty book and lyrics by two-time Tony nominee Peter Kellogg, this wacky musical is fully loaded with laughs.

Much Ado About Nothing

County Fair: A Country Hits Musical by Taylor Ferrera and Matt Webster (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 9w, 5m, 10 any gender + ensemble)
Loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and full of all your favorite country hits like “The House That Built Me” and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” County Fair is a new musical comedy about sisters, community and being proud of where you come from.

Imogen Says Nothing by Aditi Brennan Kapil (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w, 7m)
This revisionist comedy in verse and prose features Imogen, a character who only appears in the first folio of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, speaks no lines, and is probably a typo. In a new feminist light, this show investigates the voices that have been absented from our canon and the consequences of removing them.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Pericles by William Shakespeare as performed by Ms. Gower’s 1st Grade Class by Jeffrey T. Bower (US)
(Short Play, Comedy / 12 any gender youth)
Ms. Gower’s 1st grade class proudly presents Pericles by William Shakespeare! A classic is restored as a group of hyper and unfocused children try their best at performing a lighthearted and comical version of the traditional tale.

The Comedy of Errors

Oh, Brother! by Donald River and Michael Valenti (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 10w, 16m)
In this playful musical, first seen on Broadway in 1981, Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors – substantially revised, augmented with song and dance and set in the Middle East – provides an evening of hilarious slapstick comedy.

The Bomb-itty of Errors by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, Gregory J. Qaiyum, Jeffrey Qaiyum, Erik Weiner (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4 any gender)
A hip-hop theatre retelling of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, this 90-minute show is part play and part rap concert, refreshingly current while retaining the integrity of the original. The cast can be expanded from 4 to 20 actors. Winner of the Jefferson Award and Best Show at the HBO Comedy Festival.

The Boys From Syracuse (David Ives Adaptation) by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, George Abbott and David Ives (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 6w, 8m + ensemble)
This musical adaptation of Rodgers & Hart’s musical take on Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, updated by David Ives, was the first musical ever adapted from the Bard’s canon. Perplexed wives, disgruntled courtesans, outraged constables and an audience roaring with laughter are left in its wake before this show’s tangled web is unraveled. The Original Version (US/UK) is also available.

The Merchant of Venice

District Merchants by Aaron Posner (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 5m)
Love, loss, litigation and predatory lending are examined in surprising ways in this uneasy comedy, which wades fearlessly into the endless complexities and contradictions of life in America. Set among the Black and Jewish populations of an imagined time and place that is simultaneously Shakespearean times, Reconstruction-era Washington, D.C., and today, this intelligent reworking of The Merchant of Venice is a remarkable tale of money, merchandise and mercy.

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Merry Wives by Jocelyn Bioh (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5w, 7m + ensemble)
Set in South Harlem, amidst a vibrant and eclectic community of West African immigrants, this raucous spinoff of The Merry Wives of Windsor is a New York story about tricks of the heart. Featuring the Bard’s most beloved comic characters, this hilarious farce tells the story of the trickster Falstaff and the wily wives who outwit him in a celebration of Black joy, laughter and vitality.

The Taming of the Shrew

Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter, Sam Spewack and Bella Spewack (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3w, 7m + ensemble)
The battle of the sexes takes center stage as former spouses Fred & Lilli feud onstage and off during a musical presentation of The Taming of the Shrew. Sophisticated, romantic and hilarious, Kiss Me, Kate provides theatrical fireworks as the Golden Age of Broadway clashes with the Bard of Avon.

The Taming by Lauren Gunderson (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w)
Tweetering, panda shrews, and undying giddiness for James Madison – what else could you expect to find at a Miss America pageant? In this hilarious, raucous, all-female “power-play” inspired by Shakespeare‘s Shrew, contestant Katherine has political aspirations to match her beauty pageant ambitions. All she needs to revolutionize the American government is the help of one ultra-conservative senator‘s aide on the cusp of a career breakthrough, and one bleeding-heart liberal blogger who will do anything for her cause.

The Tempest

Return to the Forbidden Planet by Bob Carlton (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4w, 7m)
Inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest, this high-energy jukebox musical is packed with rock ’n’ roll classics. This sci-fi retelling will take you to a planet inhabited by a sinister scientist, a robot on roller skates and an uncontrollable monster.

Rough Magic by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 8w, 6m)
Transplanting characters from The Tempest to present-day New York, this Shakespearean action-adventure-fantasy in the tradition of Dr. Who or The X-Men conjures a mythical, magical meta-universe in which the evil sorcerer Prospero is willing to do anything to recover his stolen book of magic – even if it means destroying Manhattan – until a quartet of unlikely heroes bursts onto the scene!

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night by Kwame Kwei-Armah & Shaina Taub (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4w, 7m + ensemble)
Named one of the best theatrical productions of 2018 by Time, The Hollywood Reporter and The Washington Post, Twelfth Night is a rousing contemporary musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy about mistaken identity and self-discovery. Featuring an original jazz-funk score by Shaina Taub, with a flexible-sized cast and running 90 minutes long, Twelfth Night is appropriate for all audiences and groups.

Your Own Thing by Hal Hester, Danny Apolinar and Donald River (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 2w, 5m)
This groovy, late-1960s rock musical is loosely based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Set in the “modern” land of Illyria (which looks very much like 1960s New York City), it is a tale of separated twins, mistaken identities, love triangles and “doing your own thing.”

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Two Gentlemen of Verona by John Guare, Mel Shapiro and Galt MacDermot (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3w, 6m + ensemble)
Based on Shakespeare’s comedy of the same name, Two Gentlemen of Verona tells the story of lifelong friends Proteus and Valentine, who leave their rural hometown to experience life in urban Milan. This ebullient rock musical adaptation features a score from Galt MacDermot, composer of HAIR.

The Winter’s Tale

Exit, Pursued by a Bear by Lauren Gunderson (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 2w, 2m)
In this revenge comedy inspired by an immortal stage direction in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Nan has decided to teach her abusive husband Kyle a lesson by covering the room in meat and honey so that he will be mauled by a bear. With the help of her friend Simon (acting as her emotional – and actual – cheerleader) and a stripper named Sweetheart, she tapes Kyle to a chair and forces him to watch as they reenact scenes from their painful past. As the laughs roll, Gunderson cleverly brings audiences close to the reality of domestic violence, examining multiple perspectives of those involved, each flawed, contradictory and human in this smart, dark comedy.

INSPIRED BY SHAKESPEARE’S TRAGEDIES

Hamlet

Bernhardt/Hamlet by Theresa Rebeck (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 8m)
In 1899, international star of the stage Sarah Bernhardt set out to tackle her most ambitious role yet: Hamlet. Theresa Rebeck’s play rollicks with high comedy and human drama, set against the lavish Shakespearean production that could make or break Bernhardt’s career.

Blown Youth by Dipika Guha (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 7w)
An aspiring actress and founder of a feminist commune, Celia wants one thing: to play a great role. But despite her sophisticated education and commitment to helping women, Celia, like Hamlet before her, cannot act. Inspired by Shakespeare and set in those hazy post-college years, Blown Youth examines what happens to the universe when a woman is at its center.

Fat Ham by James Ijames (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w, 4m)
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames reinvents Hamlet with his new drama, a delectable comic tragedy. Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid, already grappling with some serious questions of identity, when the ghost of his father shows up in their backyard, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder. From an uproarious family barbecue emerges a compelling examination of love and loss, pain and joy. 

Fortinbras by Lee Blessing (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4w, 10m)
Set immediately after Shakespeare’s Hamlet, this metaphysical farce recounts the events in Elsinore after the titular character’s death, focusing on his foil, Fortinbras. When he enters during the last scene of Hamlet, Fortinbras orders the bodies of the royal family shuffled off while he devises the best possible media blitz to legitimize his ascension to the throne. As inescapably relevant as the classic from which it is drawn, this comedy for revisionist theatre lovers raises questions about authority and leadership with a mocking (and loving) reverence for Shakespeare’s vision, complete with wry literary criticism and contemporary wit.

Hamlet, Cha Cha Cha! by Monk Ferris (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4w, 4m + ensemble)
Totally insane. And totally hilarious. You all know the story of Hamlet – but never has a plot line been followed by such gleefully drunken footsteps, singing all the way! But if you think you know the way the story turns out – you don’t. If you’ve always hated Shakespearean plays, you’ll love this show – and if you’ve always loved Shakespearean plays, you’ll love this show… despite yourself.

I Hate Hamlet by Paul Rudnick (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 3m)
Andrew Rally is a famous actor about to play Hamlet in Central Park. It’s a dream gig for any actor – except Andrew, because he hates Hamlet. A séance in Andrew’s New York apartment summons American actor John Barrymore, forcing Andrew to accept the part and fulfill his destiny in this unapologetically silly and affectionately amusing comedy.

Natural Shocks by Lauren Gunderson (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w)
Angela is trapped in her basement, waiting out an approaching tornado. Though a self-proclaimed unreliable narrator, she begins to reflect on a lifetime of trauma, illuminating the truth behind her endangerment. Based on Hamlet’s famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy, this one-woman show is a damning condemnation of violence, abuse and firearms in America.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 14m)
Acclaimed as a modern dramatic masterpiece, this stimulating play is Hamlet as told from the worm’s-eye view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare’s play. In the great Tom Stoppard’s best-known work, this Shakespearean Laurel and Hardy finally get a chance to take the lead role, but do so in a world where reality and illusion are entwined and where fate leads our two heroes to a tragic but inevitable end.

The Marowitz Hamlet by Charles Marowitz (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 10m)
What if one were to cut Shakespeare’s masterpiece up into individual lines and piece it back together to tell the story anew? Using the same poetic language as the original, Charles Marowitz’s version reinvents Shakespeare’s classic play, revealing the layers of insanity in a young prince’s vengeance. Notorious for his Shakespearean collages, the acclaimed Broadway and West End playwright, director and critic presents a radical reinterpretation bringing new insight and humor.

King Lear

Game of Tiaras (full-length) by Don Zolidis (US) – Also available in a One-Act Version (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5w, 27 any gender youth)
When the aging king of decides to split his empire between his three daughters, terrible tragedy ensues. Terrible, hilarious tragedy. Combining the gut-wrenching plot twists of Game of Thrones and the soul-numbing despair of Shakespearean tragedy, this adaptation of King Lear will leave you dying with laughter as the body count mounts. When you play the Game of Tiaras, you win or you die.

Macbeth

Mac Beth by Erica Schmidt (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 7w)
After school, seven teenage girls convene in an abandoned lot to perform a DIY retelling of Macbeth. As the girls conjure kings, warriors and witches, Shakespeare’s bloody tale seeps into their reality. This hauntingly brilliant play re-contextualizes the classic text to expose the ferocity of adolescence and the intoxicating power of collective fantasy.

Mortal Terror by Robert Brustein (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 1w, 6m)
It’s 1605, the year of the Gunpowder Plot, a terrorist conspiracy to blow up the houses of Parliament. Shakespeare, delicately balancing his allegiances to assure his own survival, is commissioned by King James to write a play to justify his right to the throne. That play is Macbeth. Explore the circumstances surrounding the creation of the bloody Shakespearean tragedy in this contemporary play.

Peerless by Jiehae Park (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 3w, 2m)
Asian-American twins M and L have given up everything to get into The College. So when D, a one-sixteenth Native American classmate, gets “their” spot instead, they figure they’ve got only one option: kill him. A darkly comedic take on Shakespeare’s Macbeth about the dangerously ambitious and the cut-throat world of high school during college admissions.

Toil and Trouble by Lauren Gunderson (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 1w, 2m)
Underemployed friends Adam, Matt and Beth are desperate to beat the recession any way they can, like combining forces to take over a small island in South America. But when a fortune cookie tells Matt that he will rule and Beth gets a little too handy with a dagger, plans go awry. This hilarious adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth pits friend against friend, ambition against fate, pet-sitting against miniature vicuna mogul-dom.

2012 Tricycle Theatre Production of Red Velvet (Hugo Glendinning)

Othello

American Moor by Keith Hamilton Cobb (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2m)
A seasoned Black actor auditioning for the role of William Shakespeare’s iconic hero Othello must respond to the dictates of a younger white director who presumes to understand how to maximize the Black character for believability. What could possibly go wrong? A poetic exploration of Shakespeare, race and America, not necessarily in that order.

Desdemona, A Play About a Handkerchief by Paula Vogel (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w)
As the wrongly accused and suffering wife of Shakespeare’s tragic Othello, Desdemona has long been viewed as the “victim of circumstance.” But as Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel demonstrates in her comic deconstruction of Shakespeare’s play – aligning tongue-in-cheek humor while raising serious questions as to the role of women through the ages – Desdemona was far from the quivering girl we’ve all come to know.

Othello: The Remix by GQ and JQ (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 4m)
Othello is spun out and lyrically rewritten over original beats in this high-energy spin on Shakespeare’s play filled with “devilishly clever” couplets set to catchy cadences. Infusing impish humor to the original story, this all-male spoof proves that the Bard himself was the original master of rhythm and rhyme.

Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 5m)
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, 1833. Edmund Kean, the greatest actor of his generation, has collapsed on stage whilst playing Othello. A young Black American actor has been asked to take over the role. But as the public riot in the streets over the abolition of slavery, how will the cast, critics and audience react to the revolution taking place in the theatre?

Romeo and Juliet

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Me and Juliet by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 14w, 9m)
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s valentine to the theatre takes place both onstage and backstage during the production of a musical entitled – what else? – Me and Juliet. Informed by rich insights into the world of Broadway – the acquisition and loss of jobs, the inside tricks of the trade and the pitfalls of backstage romance – this is an innovative, irresistible show that consistently delivers both musically and dramatically. The show-within-the-show is inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and the famous balcony scene here is the hit song “No Other Love,” which reuses a Rodgers melody originally written for Victory at Sea, now reborn with Hammerstein lyrics.

Shakespeare in Love by Lee Hall, Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6w, 18m)
Based on the Academy Award-winning film, this enchanting, hilarious, romantic stage play reimagines William Shakespeare’s creative process – and explores his inspiration – as he writes Romeo and Juliet. Also available in a High School Edition (US/UK).

Shakespeare’s R&J by Joe Calarco (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4m)
Four young prep school students discover Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and, soon after, the rigidity of their lives begins to parallel the lives of the characters in the play: Roles in the family, roles in society, and the roles played by men and women soon seem to make all the sense in the world, and then, suddenly, they seem to make no sense at all. Perceptions and understanding are turned upside down as the fun of play-acting turns serious, words and meanings begin to hit home, and universal truths emerge in this eye-opening adaptation of the coming-of-age classic.

The People vs. Friar Laurence, The Man Who Killed Romeo and Juliet by Ron West and Phil Swann (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3w, 6m)
A hilarious mash-up of Shakespeare, Gilbert & Sullivan, sketch comedy and American musical theatre, this fast-moving musical revisits the tale of Romeo and Juliet from the perspective of Friar Laurence. It was created using the following formula: troubled teenagers + feuding families + political intrigue = musical comedy.

Titus Andronicus

Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus by Taylor Mac (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3 any gender adult, 1 any gender youth)
Set just after the blood-soaked conclusion of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, Taylor Mac’s singular play highlights the two servants tasked with cleaning up the bodies. It’s the year 400 – but it feels like the end of the world.

INSPIRED BY SHAKESPEARE’S HISTORIES

The Henriad (Henry IV, V and/or VI)

Henry, Episode IV: A New Hope by Don Zolidis (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 14w, 9m, 3 any gender)
Henry IV has a ton of problems. There’s a rebellion in the north, and his son, Hal, spends his time pretending to be a Jedi Knight and cosplaying at the local Boar’s Head Cantina. Things come to a head when Henry discovers that Darth Hotspur is creating a super weapon of some kind (ye olde deathe starre), and Hal has decided to rescue a princess out of a local nunnery. Now, Hal and his cosplaying friends will face their greatest challenge: the real world. The brainchild of playwright Don Zolidis, this is a mashup of Shakespeare’s Henry IV and a Star Wars parody.

Into the Breeches! by George Brant (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 6w, 2m)
This surprisingly modern and moving comedy, set during World War II, explores the power of art and community, even in the darkest times. While Oberon Play House’s director and leading men are off at war, the director’s wife sets out to produce an all-female version of Shakespeare’s Henriad.

William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead by John Heimbuch (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 8m, 1 boy, 8 any gender)
John Heimbuch’s wonderfully witty play, set in London, is a “true and accurate account of the Elizabethan zombie plague.” Shakespeare’s Henry V opens at the Globe Playhouse in 1599. As the affliction spreads through London, the Globe is placed in quarantine and the survivors within must fight for their lives. Can they escape? Is there a cure? Is artistic integrity ever worth dying for?

Richard III

Teenage Dick by Mike Lew (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 4w, 2m)
In this brilliant retelling of Shakespeare’s Richard III, one of the most famous disabled characters in history is reimagined as a 16-year-old outsider taking on the political turmoil of high school. Bullied for his cerebral palsy (and his sometimes disturbing tendency to speak with a Shakespearean affect), Richard plots his revenge… as well as his glorious path to the senior class presidency. But as he falls deeper into a pattern of manipulation and greed, Richard is faced with an unexpected choice: Is it better to be feared or loved? A hilarious and sharp-witted adaptation about perception, disability and the treacherous road to ascendancy.

The African Company Presents Richard III by Carlyle Brown (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 4w, 2m)
In 1821, decades before the end of slavery in America, the nation’s first Black theatrical group, the African Company of New York, presented plays in a downtown Manhattan theatre – to which both Black and white audiences flocked. The drama of this progressive group, which reached further than their stage, is theatrically captured in this compelling ensemble drama.

MULTI-WORK CROSSOVERS

In Juliet’s Garden by Judith Elliot McDonald (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 7w)
Juliet Capulet invites four other heroines of Shakespeare’s classics (Katharina, Portia, Ophelia and Desdemona) to lunch in her favorite garden in Verona to discuss “issues” they all have with their plots. This lively 50-minute one-act comedy sparkles with wit and an in-depth understanding of the characters of these indelible ladies and their effects on audiences over the centuries.

Shakespeare for My Father by Lynn Redgrave (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w)
Family reminiscences develop into a complex, funny and moving portrait of a child’s longing for the love of the inscrutable, daunting and charismatic Shakespearean actor who was her father. Shakespeare for My Father weaves scenes from the Bard that delightfully coalesce with events in Lynn Redgrave’s young life, eliciting memories of Sir Michael and engaging impressions of the celebrated stars who frequented the Redgrave family’s home and lives.

The Shakespeare Conspiracy by Andrew Shepherd (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 8w, 8m)
Dive into a lamentable, epic, comic and romantic tragic comedy in a world where Shakespeare’s heroes and villains are real. The RSC is a branch of the government. Shakespeare’s characters have been waging a secret war after being inexplicably being brought to life over 400 years ago. If the rules of theatre are broken, it will bring about the end of the world.

INSPIRED BY THE BARD HIMSELF (AND HIS LEGACY)!

Murdering Marlowe by Charles Marowitz (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 7m)
William Shakespeare, in his mid-twenties, an aspiring playwright without a foothold in London, is desperate to make his mark. The greatest obstacle to his achieving the success he believes he richly deserves is the prominence of Christopher Marlowe, the “superstar” of the Elizabethan theatre. So formidable is his envy against this charismatic playwright that he persuades himself the only way to achieve his goal is to remove Marlowe from the scene in this ambitious, thrilling drama.

Shakespeare’s Sister by Emma Whipday (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 7m, 1 girl, 1 boy)
Virginia Woolf once asked, “What would have happened had Shakespeare had a wonderfully gifted sister, called Judith?” In this theatrical response to Woolf’s musing, Judith Shakespeare has one ambition: to be a playwright. When her debt-ridden father forces her into an engagement, she runs away with the help of actor Ned Alleyn. But when Judith arrives in the plague-stricken London, she finds her brother gone, Ned engaged to another, and her play refused. In this well-crafted and thoughtful play about the arts and womanhood in a time of suppression toward both, Judith must choose between succumbing to social pressures and following her dream, no matter what the cost.

The Book of Will by Lauren Gunderson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w, 7m)
After the death of their mentor William Shakespeare, two actors are determined to compile the First Folio and preserve The Bard’s words. No matter, they’ll borrow, beg and band together to etch his name in literary history. Amidst the noise and color of Elizabethan London, this lively play finds an unforgettable true story of love, loss and laughter – and sheds new light on a man you may think you know.

Where We Belong by Madeline Sayet (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1 any gender Native actor)
A celebration of language and investigation into the impulses that divide and connect us as people. The play follows Achokayis, a member of the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, as she travels to England to pursue a degree in Shakespeare, grappling with the question of what it means to remain or leave home. Moving between nations that have failed to reckon with their ongoing roles in colonialism, she finds comfort in the journeys of her Mohegan ancestors who traveled to England in the 1700s to help her people. Achokayis’s transformational journey leaves us with the question: What does it mean to belong in an increasingly globalized world?

Visit Concord Theatricals to discover more Shakespeare-inspired musicals (US/UK) and plays (US/UK)!