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English will once again resound at the Summer Shakespeare Festival

GB Theatre Company are coming to Prague to present two comedies, The Merry Wives of Windsor and As You Like It, at the Summer Shakespeare Festival. The theatre company was founded only recently and is thus going to perform in Prague for the very first time. Some of the actors, however, already appeared at the festival last year (then as members of British Shakespeare Company), acting in pieces that were a great success with Czech audience. Pleased by the last year’s warm hearted feedback, they are now coming back, with new colleagues and new plays, to perform in Ostrava on August 11, in Prague on August 13 and 14, and to finish their short tour in Brno on August 16 and 17. Tickets for Prague dates are on sale at Ticketportal network for 150, 390, 590 and 790 CZK.

The co-founder of the company, Barrie Palmer, describes GB Theatre Company as “a theatre company performing classic plays both indoor and open-air”. As an actor Palmer has appeared in many theatre and television roles, he used to be a member of the legendary Royal Shakespeare Company, and last but not least, he has on his account a 22 years lasting carrier as a police officer with expertise in CSI.

Apart from beautiful Elizabethan costumes and perfectly declaimed Shakespeare in his mother tongue, you can look forward to GB Theatre Company members many of whom are personalities outside the ordinary. This definitely applies to Gabriel Thomson, a talented actor, popular in his home country due to his role in BBC1 series My Family, whom you will see in the role of the love-smitten Orlando in As You Like It and the funny Dr. Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Another personality worth mentioning is Matt Milburn (known from the series Hollyokes), a good-looker who will act Oliver, Robert, Fenton and Bardolf.

The core member of GB Theatre Company is experienced theatre manager and actor David Davides: he will act the comical Mr. Ford and the ironic Jacques in As You Like It.

The third Falstaff on scene

Another fact worth mentioning is the cast of Alexander Delamere in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Delemere is, after Bolek Polívka and Norbet Lichý, the third Falstaff at this year’s Summer Shakespeare Festival.

The main representative of the lady part of the company is Stacey Roca performing the fragile Celia in As You Like It and the high-spirited Mrs. Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor. She is another member of the company to have a personal experience with the legendary Royal Shakespeare Company: at the time being, she is participating in a one year workshop at the RSC.

The Merry Wives of Windsor were staged by Jenny Stephens, a director and a producer. As You Like It was then put on stage by Neil Sheppeck, an actor, director and the founder of Love&Madness who aims at bringing classic theatre plays closer to young audiences.

GB Theatre Company will perform in Prague, Brno and Ostrava within their summer tour; other places they will drop in are, among other, Trinity College in Dublin, an open-air amphitheatre Ramme Gaard in Norway, the castle of Arundel in Western Sussex or a monastery neighbouring the cathedral in Norwich.

If interested in interviewing Barrie Palmer or any of the members of the company, please contact Magdalena Bičíková, 604 58 60 58, magdalena@shakespeare.cz. Photos are available here: www.gbtheatre.com/press.html.

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17.06.2010

PRESS

17.06.2010

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English will once again resound at the Summer Shakespeare Festival, PDF [PDF 64 kB]