“To define true madness, what is ’t but to be nothing else but mad?” — Hamlet
Three days of performance, conversation and revelry exploring madness in Shakespeare's plays.
Book Tickets
A weekend exploring madness in Shakespeare's plays. With performances, conversations and guest speakers. Curated by Nick Hutchison at the Aldeburgh Jubilee Hall.
Raising funds for Second Stage — a charity created to provide training, support and employment routes into the creative industries for those leaving the criminal justice system.
An adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear devised and performed by Colin Hurley
A man in a dressing gown shuffles in, carrying a box. From the box he pulls the objects, people, quarrels, wrongs, jokes, mistakes, laughter and regrets that add up to a life.
Over the next seventy minutes he retreads the path that brought him here, to This Great Stage of Fools: the loss of his daughters, the loss of his knights, the loss of his fool, the loss of his wits… oh, and the storm. Don't forget the storm. When The Rain Came.
Using only Shakespeare's words (reordered, repurposed, and often repeated) Lear's Shadow is a mischievous, engaging reflection on Shakespeare's great domestic tragedy.
Content Warning: this piece contains vivid depictions of Very Poor Parenting.
‘a superb one-man performance… Throughout the 70-minute performance, Hurley captivates’ ★★★★ Theatre and Arts Review
‘Hurley's performance is a tour de force… He engaged with the audience brilliantly’ ★★★★ North West End
‘Hurley delivers a surprising, irresistibly human and comic Lear… Lear's Shadow is a consistently engaging distillate of Shakespeare's iconic tragedy.’ British Theatre Guide
Author of Mad About Shakespeare — From Classroom, to Theatre, to Emergency Room
Jonathan Bate is a Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University, where he was formerly Provost of Worcester College, and Foundation Professor of Environmental Humanities at Arizona State University. He is well known as a biographer, critic, creative writer and broadcaster, and has authored award-winning biographies of William Wordsworth, John Clare and Ted Hughes, as well as many works on Shakespeare. He has a CBE for services to higher education and was knighted for services to literary scholarship.
Shakespeare's world is never too different from our own — permeated with the same moments of tragedy or comedy, the same existential questions and ways of encountering each other. As he says, ‘the web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together’. So, whether dealing with the death of a loved one, the mess of war, the experience of being schooled, or falling in love, of growing old, of losing your mind, if you are patient enough, Shakespeare will give you the words.
With an introduction by director Michael Hoffman
Twentieth Century Fox's dazzling 1999 star-studded film. A Midsummer Night's Dream is Shakespeare's most opulent romantic comedy, full of mysticism and humour. Set deep in the heart of a lush forest, with an extraordinary cast of fairy kings and queens, their remarkable entourages and two beautiful pairs of lovers, this lavish Fox film for 1999 is a visual extravaganza. Its all-star cast — Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer — was a box-office triumph.
This lavish feature film, set on location at a stunning Tuscan setting, includes an introduction by the director, Michael Hoffman.
Regeneration Theatre — Performed by Mark Lockyer and directed by Fiona Laird
‘This production is extraordinary… leaves the watcher utterly spellbound’ Rufus Norris, Artistic Director, National Theatre
‘Soliloquies that make the skin tingle’ The Guardian
Expertly edited into 100 thrilling minutes, Mark literally embodies the play and all its characters, in a visceral production. Age guidance 14+.
‘This production has remarkable potential as inspiration and motivator, but also as a therapeutic tool for those that are disadvantaged by education, mental illness, and societal circumstance — be it homeless or otherwise.’ Dr James Anderson, retired consultant forensic psychiatrist (HMP Belmarsh and Broadmoor Hospital)
Stay behind after the performance and join Mark, director Fiona Laird and psychiatrist Dr James Anderson for a discussion around the play and madness.
Based on her book She Speaks — What Shakespeare's Women May Have Said
Following the successful launch of her book, Harriet will take to the stage and enact some of the witty and insightful passages. Joined by some of her performer friends, between them they will speak the unspeakable!
Previously performed at Lyric Hammersmith in London and on tour, this promises to be a fun and irreverent look at Shakespeare's greatest heroines.
Dame Harriet Walter is a distinguished British actress known for extensive stage work with the RSC (playing male Shakespearean roles in all-female casts) and acclaimed TV/film roles in Succession, The Crown, Sense and Sensibility, and Atonement, earning a CBE (2000) and Damehood (2011) for her contributions to drama, alongside authoring several books.
Stefan Bednarczyk is an English actor, singer, and pianist acclaimed for his role as Feste (the Fool) in Tom Littler's 2024 Orange Tree Theatre production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. He notably performed the role from a grand piano at the centre of the stage, providing live, sometimes improvised musical accompaniment to the action.
Stefan will reprise this wonderful performance while drinks are served as we celebrate the end of this amazing weekend with all our guests.
Venue
The Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh
Email
madaboutshakespear@gmail.com
Box Office
01728 454022
