High time for Shakespeare in the city
Knoxville hosts annual Shakespeare festival
The Tennessee Stage Company is presenting its 28th summer Shakespeare Festival in Knoxville, featuring the comedies Henry the IV, Part One and Cymbeline.
Most performances will be at Market Square, with one in Blount County.
Cymbeline opens the festival on Thursday, July 12, at Market Square and continues through Aug. 12, alternating with Henry the IV, Part One, which runs July 12 - Aug. 12.
Admission is free to the outdoor Market Square and Blount County Public Library performances, while indoor matinees at Scruffy City Hall on Market Square are $15.
A donation basket is passed at the outdoor Market Square shows, with a $10 suggested donation. Seating is available on the square for $15, first come, first serve.
Cymbeline is Shakespeare’s version of a romantic fairy tale (and a fractured one at that), complete with a wicked step-mother, mistaken identities, star-crossed lovers, beheadings, outlaws in the mountains living in caves, an invasion by the Roman legions… it’s hard to find something that isn’t in this play.
Outdoor shows are July 12, 14, 20, 22, 26, 28, Aug. 3, 5, 9, 11. Curtain goes up at 7 p.m.
Henry IV, Part One is the play that brings to the forefront what is perhaps Shakespeare’s most beloved character - the fat knight Falstaff. With the Crown Prince of England in tow, Falstaff makes a wreck of the English countryside, robbing, drinking, boasting and creating mayhem wherever he goes. All is well until the ongoing turmoil over who is the rightful king breaks into open warfare: Falstaff must prove himself a fighter or a coward and the young Prince Hal must also prove his worth at last: “The better part of valor is discretion.”
Outdoor shows are July 13, 15, 19, 21, 27, 29, Aug. 2, 4, 10, 12. Curtain goes up at 7 p.m.
Two performances will be held on Sunday afternoons in the city hall; Cymbeline at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 22, 2 p.m.; Henry IV, Part One at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 5.
Cymbeline will also be presented at Blount County Public Library in Maryville, Tennessee, July 30, at 6:30 p.m.
Shakespeare on the Square productions are performed on a rough replica of the new Globe Theatre in London, a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s original theater.
For more information about the Tennessee Stage Company, Shakespeare On The Square, or its support guild, call 865-546-4280 or e-mail tennesseestage@comcast.net.