Dominion Energy Center’s Gottwald Playhouse
600 E Grace St, Richmond, VA 23219
Saturday May 4 @7:30p
A Pleasant conceited comedie…
The Bootleg Shakespeare Project was first presented in Richmond in 2009 and has been a Richmond favorite ever since.
The premise is based on the ‘Bootleg’ cassette copies of live band performances which circulated in the 70's and 80's. They tended to be a recording of a recording of a recording. So not quite the songs as you remember them from the studio album - a little strange, a little distorted, a little unpredictable and not quite as crisp. But somehow a bit cooler...a little illicit.
Tickets are released at 6p at the Gottwald Playhouse box office. Arrive early to ensure your spot as there will be a line around the block. Show starts at 7:30p. Richmond Shakespeare Members are entitled to reserve 1 ticket per membership package in advance by emailing jase@richmondshakespeare.org
HOW IT WORKS
Local actors are cast in the production 30 days before the performance. In that time, they are expected to learn their lines, develop their character, assemble their own props and costumes, and come in ready to work on the day of the performance for ONE DAY of rehearsal, only to perform the show that very evening to a FREE audience.
This project is designed to be a free theatre event during a time when theatre tickets are increasingly more expensive and wallets are tighter. It's a gesture of good willl to the community we love so much. It's also always a packed house and a just ton of fun.
We use live musicians to underscore the event with some cool tunes to help tell the story! And the bar is open throughout the performance to help audiences appreciate the show a little more...
For actors, it represents a performance exercise that they will never forget. Simulating Shakespearean staging conditions by being almost solely responsible for their own performance, it's an opportunity to delve outside their comfort zones and to experience live performance in a way that for many is quite terrifying. For others, it's quite liberating. But it is important that actors take the project seriously and come in ready to work. And by work, we mean making choices. And by choices, we mean strong ones...
The shared experience among actors on this project is quite special and often changes how they think about their approach to performance.
