NAKED SHAKESPEARE

"Everyone's favorite Elizabethan entertainment group"
- Portland Press Herald, 10/21/09

The mission of Naked Shakespeare is to allow actors and audiences to experience the power of Shakespeare's language and imagery through listening and speaking the text. Our performances showcase the words of the Bard in performances in non-traditional venues presented without sets, lights and costumes, allowing the audience's imagination to take center stage.

RIVERBANK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

Free outdoor shows return to Westbrook's Riverbank Park

This year's festival features The War of the Roses,director Michael Levine's abridgement of the three parts of Henry VI into one play, and Karen Ball's mystical version of The Tempest featuring actors in Acorn's Young Actors Shakespeare Conservatory

June 14 to 16

Admission FREE ($10 suggested donation)

THE WAR OF THE ROSES

adapted and directed by Michael Levine

Perhaps no period in history has been marked by as much civil warfare caused solely by political ambition as England's fifteen century. Pious Henry wants nothing more than a quiet life of study and prayer, but his ambitious wife Margaret and greedy advisor Suffolk has different things in mind for him. Throw in Richard, Duke of York, who has a chip on his shoulder as large as the hump on his son's back, and the conniving Warwick the kingmaker, and the result is as bloody as you might expect.

Friday, June 14 at 5:30pm
Saturday, June 15 at 2pm
Sunday, June 16 at 5pm

THE TEMPEST

directed by Karen Ball

The former Duchess of Milan, Prospera, strives for revenge against her old foe Alonso who desposed her and drove her into exile on a magical Avalon-like island. Featuring the talents of the teens actors who have trained in Acorn's Young Actors Shakespeare Conservatory.

Saturday, June 15 at 5pm
Sunday, June 16 at 2pm

Naked Shakespeare in performance at the Wine Bar
December 2009