Shakespeare: A Celebration

We are delighted to be taking part in the Shakespeare in Sutton Festival this month, in collaboration with FOLIO Sutton Coldfield (Friends of Libraries in our Sutton Coldfield) and Everything to Everybody. The Festival is part of their amazing project to celebrate the incredible collection held in the Shakespeare Memorial Library at the Library of Birmingham, with the Folio itself going on tour!

There are numerous events happening across Sutton Coldfield, including our own here at Highbury Theatre. To celebrate the occasion, the Highbury Players are performing a series of readings from Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, varying from comedy to tragedy and romance, and including both songs and spoofs.

We spoke to a few members of the cast during rehearsals to find out their thoughts on their Shakespearian roles...

Director Ian Appleby with some of the Shakespeare: A Celebration cast

Yvonne - We've been rehearsing a Celebration of Shakespeare during the last few weeks. It's been great fun, and quite difficult, and it reminds us just how vast Shakespeare's work was, and is, and how he wrote such wonderful plays. I've been introduced to bloody sections which I didn't know existed!

Sean - I've been very grateful to have the opportunity to play Titus Andronicus and Desdemona... *laughter* Sorry! And Othello! And Hamlet. So, to get to play three parts of that stature in one evening has been a real joy. It's a reminder of the gift that Shakespeare is to us all.

Eliza - Shakespeare, for me, is a great storyteller. There are so many wonderful roles in Shakespeare for both men and women, and I'm very lucky at my age to be playing some of the great roles for women. I get to play Hermia, Olivia, and Juliette and Gertrude. It's fantastic having those opportunities.

Phil - I'm playing a number of roles, including reprising my famous Malvolio complete with yellow stockings. Cross-gartered. We're not skimping on the cross-gartering, you'll be pleased to know. It's been great. I also get to read the Cleopatra barge piece of Enorbarbus which I'm enjoying reading. We're having a lot of fun.

Highbury Players: Yvonne Lee, Phil Astle, Sean Mulkeen and Eliza Harris

Shakespeare: A Celebration runs from 19 - 23 April 2022. Tickets are available to book online or from the Theatre Box Office here.

Discover the other Shakespeare events happening around Sutton Coldfield here.

We look forward to sharing and enjoying Shakespeare's works with our audiences very soon!

Photography by Emily White.