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LOVE

 

What does Shakespeare say about love?

An aging King Lear divides his kingdom between the two daughters who pretend to love him most.

Romeo and Juliet - the world's most romantic lovers - are suicidal and out of control.

Lady Macbeth questions her husband's manhood if he refuses to kill the King.

On a Midsummer's Night, when lovers change partners, Hermia remains true.

Hamlet tries to send the young woman he loves to a nunnery.

Bassanio woos Portia to mend his fortunes.

Othello's passionate love ends in murder.

 

But what does Shakespeare believe?

 

 

In "A Taste of Shakespeare: Love", a group of actors are working on a play about this very topic. As they probe the texts for “proof”, moments from our other productions illustrate their opposing points of view.



 

And then they find that the very same love complications dramatized by Shakespeare are happening in their own lives.



In all Shakespeare’s plays, love – in all its permutations – is a central theme. Romantic, parental, nudged along by fairies, mixed with jealousy, dangerous, tragic, noble and self-sacrificing. So no matter which play of Shakespeare’s you are studying, A TASTE OF SHAKESPEARE: LOVE will be helpful as it shows how to look deeply into a text to discover meaning. But love is complicated, so the spirited debate our actors have is a way both to explore the riches in the plays and to see how much we have in common with characters who were written over four hundred years ago.

 

Love Cast and Crew

Production Notes