SHAKESPEARE IN THE SQUARES ANNOUNCES 2018 PRODUCTION OF
AS YOU LIKE IT, TOURING TO LONDON SQUARES AND PARKS THIS SUMMER
As You Like It
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Tatty Hennessy
Tour: 20 June – 13 July
Shakespeare in the Squares today announces its 2018 production of As You Like It, directed by Tatty Hennessy, which tours to London’s squares and parks from 20 June to 13 July, with a press night at Arundel and Ladbroke Gardens on 26 June. Opening up London’s glorious private squares and gardens to magical performances for Londoners and family audiences, Shakespeare in the Squares’ third production follows the company’s successful productions of Much Ado About Nothing in summer 2016 and Romeo and Juliet in summer 2017, which were performed to sell-out audiences. The tour of As You Like It will visit twice as many locations as the inaugural Shakespeare in the Squares tour in 2016.
Sue Fletcher and Martin Neild, founders of Shakespeare in the Squares, said, “For the third summer tour of Shakespeare in the Squares, we are delighted to be working again with director Tatty Hennessy to stage one of Shakespeare’s best loved comedies. As You Like It could be tailor-made for the beautiful outdoor spaces we are performing in across London, which lend themselves so perfectly to being reimagined as the Forest of Arden.”
Founded by Sue Fletcher and Martin Neild in 2016, Shakespeare in the Squares is a not-for-profit touring theatre company that stages a Shakespeare play across London squares every summer. The productions are tailored to the individual garden squares, and the company works with the garden committees and other local organisations to create a unique community celebration around the play. The company aims to provide a showcase for talented young theatre practitioners and to introduce audiences to the stars of the future.
Shakespeare in the Squares’ new production of As You Like It, Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy of love, desire and mistaken identity, is set in 1970, the year of the first Glastonbury Festival. As Shakespeare’s characters flee from the rigidity of the court to the Forest of Arden, audiences too can exchange the conformity of city life for a pastoral utopia where hippies and freethinkers meet to dance, love and put the world to rights.
Tatty Hennessy is an award-winning playwright, dramaturg and director. She returns to direct As You Like It for Shakespeare in the Squares following her production of Romeo and Juliet last year.
Hennessy is currently the Baylis Assistant Director at the Old Vic, where she is assisting on Max Webster’s production of Fanny & Alexander. Her previous directing credits include her own adaptation of The Snow Queen (Theatre N16), a revival of her first play All That Lives (Ovalhouse Theatre) and Acorn (The Courtyard Theatre). As a writer, she won the Heretic Voices competition in 2017 with her play A Hundred Words for Snow, which received an acclaimed production at the Arcola Theatre in early 2018.
Schedule for Summer 2018 (further venues to be announced shortly)
All performances at 7pm unless stated
Wednesday 20 June Leinster Square, W2
Thursday 21 June St James’s Gardens, W11
Friday 22 June Norland Square, W11
Saturday 23 June Queen’s Park, NW6
Tuesday 26 June Arundel and Ladbroke Gardens, W11 (press night – nearest tube stations are Ladbroke Grove and Holland Park)
Saturday 30 June Little Wormwood Scrubs Park, W10
Tuesday 3 July St James’s Square, SW1
Wednesday 4 July Connaught Square, W2
Thursday 5 July Bedford Square, WC1 (part of the Bedford Square Festival)
Friday 6 July The Crescent Garden, W9
Saturday 7 July St Peter’s Square, W6
Sunday 8 July The Courtyard at le Gothique, Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, Wandsworth, SW18 (3pm matinee)
Tuesday 10 July The Courtyard at le Gothique, Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, Wandsworth, SW18
Wednesday 11 July Ladbroke Square, W11
Thursday 12 July Cleveland Square, W2
http://www.shakespeareinthesquares.co.uk/
Twitter: @shakessquares
Facebook: shakespeareinthesquares