Sabrina Spalding, Tony Pike & Victoria Reibel In The Bald Soprano.
Photo-Savage Rose

 

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After a season largely devoted to William Shakespeare, Savage Rose Classical Theatre Company takes a decidedly eclectic turn for their 6th season, announcing a set of titles both obscure and well-known, including two remounted productions, their 3rd entry in The Slant Culture Theatre Festival, and four main stage plays, three of which will be presented at the new Alley Theatre at 633 West Main Street!

First, the King Lear that is set to run March 21-30 gets a 3-performance remount this August in Central Park as part of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival’s extended season. King Lear will run in repertory with productions from LePetomane Theatre Ensemble, Walden Theatre, and Shoestring Productions.

Following that, the much-talked about production of Eugene Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano from last year, returns to The Bard’s Town for another two-night, eight performance run, August 22 &23.

In November, Savage Rose presents Jean Genet’s chilling one-act The Maids as this year’s entry into the Annual Slant Culture Theatre Festival. Sisters Solange and Claire are maids for a third woman only known as “Madame.” When Madame is out, the maids engage in bizarre, ritualistic role-playing games in which they kill their absent employer.

The outrageous Elizabethan comedy The Blind Beggar of Alexandria opens in December 2014, and will be directed by Erin Crites. Drawing on commedia dell’arte traditions, George Chapman’s first play was wildly popular when it was originally performed and jumpstarted his playwriting career. The plot relies on the classic devices of disguise and mistaken identity as Cleanthes, a swindler and pretended duke, woos Queen Aegiale, is banished by her, and returns in the guise (among many others) of the blind beggar and fortune-teller, Irus, leaving misunderstandings and hilarity in his wake.

In February 2015, just in time for Valentine’s Day, join Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy as they navigate numerous obstacles on the rocky path to love, including family, scandal, and themselves, in Christina Calvit’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Shakespeare’s earliest and bloodiest tragedy, Titus Andronicus, in April. Producing Artistic Director J. Barrett Cooper will portray the titular Roman general locked in an ever increasingly vicious cycle of revenge with Tamora, Queen of the Goths.

Rounding out the season in June is British playwright Edward Bond’s lyrical tragicomedy The Sea. First produced in 1973, the play is set in 1907 in a small English seaside village. A well-known and loved member of the community dies at sea during a violent storm. The play explores the reactions of the villagers to the loss and the attempts by two young lovers to break away from the constraints of their hierarchical, and sometimes insane, society.
2014-2015 SEASON
KING LEAR by William Shakespeare, August 12-17 (exact performance dates TBA)
THE BALD SOPRANO by Eugene Ionesco, August 22 & 23
THE MAIDS by Jean Genet, November 13-23 (exact performance dates TBA)
THE BLIND BEGGAR OF ALEXANDRIA by George Chapman, December (dates TBA)
PRIDE & PREJUDICE from the novel by Jane Austen, February 13-21, 2015
TITUS ANDRONICUS by William Shakespeare, April 17-25
THE SEA by Edward Bond, June 12-20