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Summer Shakespeare: Inaugural festival kicks off in Brussels

Final rehearsals for Brussels Summer Shakespeare Festival
12:42 19/06/2019
Tickets available for all of the English-language shows

Enjoy a double bill of original one-act plays plus the bard’s history classic Henry V in the first Brussels Shakespeare Summer Festival at the Balsamine Theatre in Schaerbeek from 20 to 29 June.

During the first week of the festival, catch two original adaptations staged from 20 to 22 June. Mopsa and Dorcas Hit the Town by Patrick Stephenson and directed by Esther Pozo Vera is a hilarious pastiche set in a gay bar in Brussels. It is based on two minor characters from The Winter’s Tale who are reinvented as two pole-dancing PhD students. The pair are joined by a motley assortment of fellow expats in a bawdy tale encompassing sexual manners - or the lack of them.

Brussels Shakespeare Summer Festival

Inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Stephen Challens’ Nadir Nachtmerrie, also directed by Vera, turns the fantasy tale upside down for a darker yet illuminating comedy. 

Challens directs Henry V, one of Shalespeare’s greatest works, from 25 to 29 June. Centered on the Battle of Agincourt, the new monarch has to shoulder the responsibility of leading his armies into war in France, yet still finds time to pursue his love life.

Alternatively, watch all three plays in a Shake-your-Spear Sunday Social on 23 June, accompanied by afternoon food and drinks. 

Photo (top): Rehearsal of Mopsa and Dorcas Hit the Town

 

Written by Sarah Crew