Görlitzer Park, Berlin, Germany
August – September 2011

Book, Concept & Direction:
SHAKESPEARE IM PARK BERLIN


SHAKESPEARE IM PARK BERLIN’s inaugural project was a rethinking of Shakespeare’s King Henry IV, using the classic play as the starting point to explore the continued relevance — or lack thereof — of the teachings of Sir John Falstaff. Royalists and traitors alike swarm Görlitzer Park amidst frisbee-throwers, picnickers, and sunbathers. Rumors of wild Welsh women run rampant, while old, fat drunkards cook and devour barbecue.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Inept revolutionary magicians divvy and delegate imagined territory, while a charmingly-feminine Prince Hal squanders time and money in her indecent pursuits of paradise’s pleasures. The absent King Henry broadcasts news from his ongoing crusade in the Holy Land, while Harold Bloom and an inebriate Orson Welles shepherd audiences through a variety of scenic installations in the hopes that their idol, Sir John, will make an overdue appearance. And, naturally, there’s the epic (stuffed-animal) Battle of Shrewsbury in a giant sand-box-cum-abandoned-municipal-fountain. A fight to the death, or not. Either way: victor wears the crown, while Falstaff frolics freely toward Wales ever in search of those mighty minions of the moon.

“

There's nothing British about this performance. It's a truly Berlin experience in that it's unusual, interactive, bilingual, occasionally trilingual, and absolutely amazing.

Tam Eastley, NPR
“

Is that Orson Welles tied to a tree swigging whiskey? Görlitzer Park is a place for punks, hipsters, families and boozers – and now for theatregoers too. All the park’s a stage. Be prepared for a rowdy evening and liberal breaking of the fourth wall.

Time Out Berlin

Some Press Clippings

Music Demos

Trailer

Ensemble: Eva Barrie, Maxwell Flaum, Benjamin Levent Krause, Franziska Kruse, Ana Mena, Nadine Rahimtoola, Paul Schmidt, Eef, Errol Shaker, Sarah-Jane St. Clair, Sebastian Stegmann, Marina Steiner, Gianni von Weitershausen, Meridian Winterberg, Sebastian Witt, Brandon Woolf

Stage Design: Alberto Di Gennaro
Music Composition: stew
Costume Design: Jennifer Hartmann, Emily Vaile & Christine Büschel
Production Management: Zita Strübi
Sound Editing: Peter Remmers

Fight Choreography: Joshua Rutter
Visual Artwork: M.Flaum
Photography: Lisa Merk & Mark von Wardenburg
Public Relations: Marieke Zwilling