SEASON 26

 

SEASON 26 MEMBERSHIPS ARE ON SALE NOW!

1 Pass. 5 Tickets. Endless ways to experience Richmond Shakespeare’s Season 26! For just $200, get a Membership Pass with 5 tickets to use at select performances of Lord of the Flies, The Father, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cyrano De Bergerac, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

  • Members avoid the fees charged on single ticket purchases - a 25% savings versus single tickets!

  • Memberships are flexible - use one ticket per show, or plan for your group to attend one show. The possibilities are endless!

  • Plus members receive one reserved ticket to our ever popular Bootleg Shakespeare event!

1 Membership Pass (5 tickets) - $200

2 Membership Passes (10 tickets) - $400

3 Membership Passes (15 tickets) - $600

4 Membership Passes (20 tickets) - $800

Single ticket sales begin September 1, 2024. Memberships to Richmond Shakespeare's Season 26 are on sale now:

 

The thing is - fear can't hurt you any more than a dream…

Lord of the Flies

by William Golding, adapted for the stage by Nigel Williams

October 17 – November 10, 2024

Dominion Energy Center’s Gottwald Playhouse, 600 E Grace St, Richmond, VA 23219

Evacuated from a war-torn world and marooned on a tropical island when their airplane crashes, a group of pre-adolescent boys find themselves battling for survival with no adults to help them. At first, the fair-minded and mild-mannered Ralph seems a natural leader, but as vestiges of civilization fall away, the more aggressive Jack takes control. Jack organizes the boys into a tribe of hunters, searching for pigs to kill and eat and, more alarmingly, watching for the Beast - a malevolent force that the boys believe is stalking the island.

Gradually the frightened youngsters slip from civilized behavior into red-blooded savagery. They battle with inner demons and external fears, with the weakest and most vulnerable at the highest risk. Ultimately, driven by a primitive bloodlust, childish “games” lead to tragic consequences and Golding’s timeless fable exposes the Beast that is in us all and debunks the myth of childhood innocence.

 

I feel as if I'm losing all my leaves…

The Father: A Tragic Farce

by Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton

January 30 – February 16, 2025

Virginia Repertory Theatre’s Theatre Gym, 114 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23220

Now 80 years old, André was once a tap dancer. He lives with his daughter, Anne, and her husband, Antoine. Or was André an engineer, whose daughter Anne lives in London with her new lover, Pierre? The thing is, he is still wearing his pyjamas, and he can’t find his watch. He is starting to wonder if he’s losing control. Winner of the 2014 Molière award for France’s best play, The Father makes us see things as if through the confused eyes of André, as he struggles to make sense of a progressively befuddling world.

A play that constantly confounds expectations and works almost like a thriller, with a sinister Pinteresque edge…full of guile, particularly in the way it toys with time, yet is also simplicity itself, and is never tricksy. The Father constantly makes you question the truth and the nature of reality…an astonishingly unguarded play about the cruelties of love and the limits of patience, and the way child-parent relationships become inverted as old age creeps up and mugs us.

 

To conquer death, you only have to die…

Jesus Christ Superstar

by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber

March 6 - 23, 2025

The Steward School’s Cramer Center for the Arts, 11600 Gayton Rd, Richmond, VA 23238

What’s the buzz? The first musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to be produced for the professional stage, Jesus Christ Superstar has wowed audiences for over 50 years. A timeless work, the rock opera is set against the backdrop of an extraordinary and universally known series of events but seen, unusually, through the eyes of Judas Iscariot. Loosely based on the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Superstar follows the last week of Jesus Christ’s life. The story, told entirely through song, explores the personal relationships and struggles between Jesus, Judas, Mary Magdalene, his disciples, his followers and the Roman Empire.

The iconic 1970s rock score contains such well-known numbers as “Superstar,” “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” and “Gethsemane.” A true global phenomenon and perfect pick for schools, community theaters and professionals alike, Superstar continues to touch new generations of audiences and performers.

 

A kiss is a secret which takes the lips for the ear…

Cyrano De Bergerac

by Edmond Rostand

June 2025

Agecroft Hall, 4305 Sulgrave Rd, Richmond, VA 23221

Cyrano de Bergerac is a fearless soldier. A loyal braggadocio. And a man furiously self-conscious about his very protuberant nose. He’s also a man in love with a woman (Roxane) who’s in love with someone else (Christian), and promised in marriage to yet another (De Guiche). When Christian is assigned to Cyrano’s platoon, Roxane begs him to protect her love, which Cyrano reluctantly agrees to do. And when Christian in turn begs Cyrano to help him woo Roxane, a plot unfurls that begs the question: does love truly lie in the eyes or in the soul?

Embark on this glorious romance, swept through with beauty, wit and heart-stopping action. All this, supplied with panache by our iconic Cyrano – a gallant who lives life full-tilt, parrying foes with both swordplay and wordplay. Leading every charge with a glint in his eye, a soul full of poetry and a world of longing in his expansive heart. Just one thing stands in the way of his happiness. If he can see his way free of it, he may just carry the day. A night of theater this perfect is something to be celebrated; a breathtaking love letter addressed to us all.

 

The course of true love never did run smooth…

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

by William Shakespeare

July 2025

Agecroft Hall, 4305 Sulgrave Rd, Richmond, VA 23221

Probably written between 1594 and 1596, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. It is set across two worlds – the court of Athens and a mystical forest that lies beyond the city’s walls. The play is a comedy and explores themes of the irrationality of love, desire, friendship, possession, jealousy, and magic.

On Midsummer’s Night, the real and fairy worlds collide.  Four young lovers, faced with the prospect of unhappy marriage or worse, flee the court of Athens and stumble into an enchanted forest. Nearby, a group of amateur actors rehearse a play to celebrate an upcoming royal wedding. As these mere mortals cross paths with a warring fairy King and Queen, chaos reigns in the natural world. The lines between reality and illusion start to blur and no-one but mischievous Puck knows what is true and what is magic.