Cardiff’s Sherman Theatre is throwing its doors open again this month. And to celebrate, they’ll be hosting the Back in Play festival, a playful, fun and safe experience with radically reinvented plays and stand-up comedy.
In a socially-distanced cabaret setting, the festival is headlined by Radical Reinventions. At this event, there’ll be four 30-minute plays, giving classic tales an irreverent and contemporary twist.
Tales with a twist
Each of the Radical Reinventions plays is an attitude filled, bold take on a classic by a distinctive voice in Welsh theatre. First up at the festival is Lowri Jenkins’ Hamlet is a F&£$boi. This savagely funny and excoriating contemporary play challenges the norms and orthodoxies reinforced by great plays and our society.
Also twisting Shakespeare is The Messenger by Sherman Associate Artist Seiriol Davies. This new mini-musical takes a sideways look at Romeo and Juliet. Davies uses a blend of drama, song, wit and anarchy to poke fun at the heteronormative focus of plays.
Playwright, actor and belly dancer Rahim El Habachi will be presenting The Love Thief, using Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound to tell a modern-day story of sexuality, race and the realities of life in Britain. And finally, in Tilting at Windmills, writer and director Hannah McPake attempts to retell one of the greatest works of European literature, Don Quixote by Cervantes… In just 30 minutes. It’s a warm and affectionate play about realising what our limitations are, accepting failure and overcoming obstacles.
Comedy and new writing
And if that’s not enough, these new plays will be accompanied by an evening of companion pieces by the theatre’s emerging young playwrights. You can catch Re-play on 25th October and Young Queens on 18th October. These pieces will see young poets and dramatists from the Welsh Somali community sharing their views on the world and the complexities of friendship. You can also enjoy bite-size stand-up performances from Kiri Pritchard McLean and Noson Clwb Gymraeg (performed in Welsh).
The Sherman Theatre tells local stories with global resonance through its productions. They’re rehearsed and built under its roof in the Welsh capital. The Sherman is a place for everyone. It creates opportunities for Cardiff’s citizens to connect with theatre through inspiring and visionary engagement.
For more theatre suggestions, head over here!
When: 8th – 30th October 2021
Where: Sherman Theatre, Senghennydd Road, Cathays, Cardiff CF24 4YE
£: Tickets cost £30 for full festival pass, £9 for one show, £15 for two shows, £20 for three shows and £24 for 4 shows
More info: www.shermantheatre.co.uk