season
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Stanford Shakespeare Company is pleased to announce the opening of its 2009 season with an engaging production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. This charming production of one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies will take place in the Elliot Program Center next to Lake Lagunita on Stanford University campus. Performances run from February 18th through the 22nd and admission is free. The Bay Area community is invited to enjoy a humorous and stimulating evening with the nationally-recognized Stanford Shakespeare Company-the only collegiate repertory company in the country devoted to the Bard. Set in the Roaring Twenties, the play follows two best friends, Proteus and Valentine, as they part ways. Valentine leaves for bustling Milan to become educated in the ways of the world, while Proteus pursues his love for Julia at home in rustic Verona. Yet when Proteus's father forces him to follow in Valentine's footsteps, Proteus must leave his new love behind. However he immediately falls in love with Valentine's new lady, Sylvia. With Julia, disguised as a man, chasing Proteus, a series of tricks and turns leads us to question how we respond when the duty to one's friends conflicts with personal desire.
"Love hath twenty pairs of eyes…"
This tale of love and betrayal also follows the comedic exploits of Launce, Proteus's servant, who seeks more compassion out of his own best friend, his dog Crab. The Twenties-marked by their opulence and distinctive class structure-are eerily relevant in today's world of economic upheaval. This decade provides a suitable setting for a play that explores the insignificance of superficiality inherent with such indulgence.
King Lear
The Stanford Shakespeare Company rounds off another exciting season with a powerful production of King Lear, staged in the Crown Quadrangle courtyard outside of the Richard Crown Law Library on the Stanford campus. Performances run from May 13th-17th and admission is free. The Bay Area community is invited to share in an enthralling evening with the nationally recognized Stanford Shakespeare Company.
"This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen."
A festive occasion turns disastrous when, in a fit of passion, Lear (here, a female king) disowns her favorite daughter, banishes her most loyal advisor, and bequeaths her power to those whose claims of reverence are insincere. As a terrible storm brews and the sacred bonds of family are violated, Lear finds that she has wronged those who love her most dearly and has set in motion a deluge of cruelty, death, and decay.
Set in a contemporary, apocalyptic world that bears an unsettling resemblance to our own, StanShakes’ King Lear plumbs the depths of crisis and despair and serves as a vivid elegy to spiritual, political, and familial order. Join us for an evening of madness, malice, heroism, and heartbreak, as the best and the worst of humanity collide under the night sky. This bold production of one of Shakespeare’s most classic and devastating tragedies is not to be missed.