Shakespeare Cafe

Mondays, April 9-May 14, 7 p.m., Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, 2111 Sansom St.

by Mark Cofta

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Published: Apr 4, 2007

cabaret/theater

The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival squeezes some extra festivities around their repertory of Othello and The Taming of the Shrew (now running through May 20) with "Shakespeare Cafe," a three-course menu of Bard-related entertainments presented cabaret-style on Monday evenings.

p>In "Shakespeare and All That Jazz," April 9 and 16, the Arpeggio Jazz Quartet plays inspired improvised jazz with African and Middle Eastern influences while Festival actors perform Shakespeare's greatest love poetry.

 

ComedySportz, Philadelphia's premiere improv comedy troupe, ventures a block up Sansom Street from their Playground home on April 23 and 30 to share special Shakespeare-themed, short-form, audience-participation improv games, led by Festival comic favorites John Zak and Brian McCann.

McCann returns on May 7 and 14 with fellow stage-combat-certified actor Brett Cassidy for "Sound & Fury: No Holds Bard," a complete "Fights of Shakespeare" evening of iambic pentameter pugilism, swordplay and mayhem. Expect dismembered limbs, dramatic demises, an anachronistic gunshot or two — and Hamlet's climactic fight scene (minus its four-hour preamble).

"Wine will be served or BYOB," McCann invites, "because booze and swords go together like tobacco and firearms."

Mondays, April 9-May 14, 7 p.m., $10-$17.12, Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, 2111 Sansom St., 215-496-8001, www.phillyshakespeare.org.

 

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