The Review - THEATRE by STEFAN AUER Published: 13 March 2008
A youthful take on the Bard
SHAKESPEARE YOUTH FESTIVAL
Bloomsbury Theatre
THE Bard as you’ve never seen him – pared down, sharpened up and in a new, youthful guise – arrives at the Bloomsbury Theatre this week.
As part of the nationwide Shakespeare Youth Festival (SYF), London theatre lovers and Shakespeare aficionados will be treated to fresh and youthful takes on the Bard’s perennial works.
The Taming of the Shrew becomes a 1990s-inspired comedy, while The Tempest wraps itself in another layer of mystery, bringing 1970s film footage and djemba drums into the “isle full of noises”.
The SYV, partnered with 34 professional theatres in the UK in order to help, facilitate and mentor young people, will offer two novel interpretations of Shakespearean classics from Tuesday March 18 to Thursday March 20.
Different abridged 45-minutes plays, among them Macbeth, The Tempest and The Taming of the Shrew, promise a glimpse of how Britain’s theatre of tomorrow – be it acting, producing or designing – could look like.