From internationally renowned Forced Entertainment theatre company, enter a playful pared-back world where Shakespeare’s most iconic stories are reimagined using only household objects and a tabletop.
In Table Top Shakespeare, a jam jar might duel a shampoo bottle, a cheese grater could plot revenge and a wooden spoon might fall in love—all in the space of up to an hour.
Guided by a skilled narrator-performer, students are drawn into the drama, comedy and tragedy of Shakespeare’s classics in a fresh visual way that provides a new illumination on Shakespearian language and makes the stories feel anew.
With humour, simplicity and imagination, each performance invites students to rediscover well-known characters and plots in surprising and memorable ways.
These unique performances encourage students to think creatively, explore symbolism and appreciate the power of storytelling with limited means. Ideal for secondary school audiences, it highlights how theatre can thrive with nothing more than a table, a few objects and a great story.
Forced Entertainment present for students a cavalcade of the classics Rome and Juliet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Hamlet. School groups may join us for only one performance or stay for a deep immersive morning of Shakespeare with 2-3 performances and a Q&A with the artists after the 1pm performance.
What to expect
Students will experience:
- Iconic stories are reimagined using only household objects and a tabletop. A jam jar might duel a shampoo bottle, a cheese grater could plot revenge and a wooden spoon might fall in love!
- A narrator-performer, humour, simplicity and imagination.
- Symbolism and Shakespearean storytelling.
- A simple set and inventive use of everyday props.
Subject areas: English, Drama, History, Creative Arts.
General capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities:Literacy, Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Intercultural Understanding.
Key themes: Core Shakespearean themes such as power, love, revenge, ambition, identity, loyalty, fate and appearance vs reality are explored through playful reinterpretation and symbolic performance.
