Program: Songs From Shakespeare

Songs From Shakespeare: True Love Never Did Run Smooth is a concert of Shakespearean proportions! A staged, fully-scripted concert theater piece, Songs from Shakespeare explores universal truths: love’s messes, life’s heartbreaks and the laughter that sees us through. Working from a creative concept framed by Garald Farnham and Alane Marco (ensemble member 2007-2011) and NYC dramaturg and stage director Katherine Harte-DeCoux, Artistic Director of Mortal Folly Theatre, with songs researched and curated by Garald Farnham, our bonny Kate Harte-DeCoux developed a new script from Shakespeare’s own words in which the songs take center stage–and even provide the main plot twists. By intertwining lines from many different Shakespeare plays and sonnets, she has used Shakespeare’s songs and words to create three completely new overlapping story arcs for four performers, and a completely fresh experience of his words for audiences. Shakespeare fans become utterly engrossed hearing familiar lines spoken in new situations, while novices are simply bowled over by discovering how much of the real music still exists for these lyrics. Uniformly, audiences have told us they were so swept up and carried along by the stories, they didn’t want it to end. Production requirements: four chairs or two benches, a 16’x20′ playing area and light. (No curtain or lighting grid necessary.)