Bard from the Barn
"Shakespeare's Greatest Characters in Lockdown"
From the works of William Shakespeare
Digital Performance
Spring/Summer 2020
"I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream past the whit of man to say what dream it was."
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In the Spring of 2020 everything stopped. The actors went home, the theatres shut their doors and the world would never be the same again. During this longest of lockdowns, the Barn Theatre asked the question, "What would Shakespeare's greatest characters do if they were forced to lock down?" After all, plague was a constant danger in the time of the Bard, with London's playhouses frequently shut down over safety fears.
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What followed was three full seasons of Barn produced digital content, where selected directors worked with esteemed actors such as Samuel Barnett and Tracey-Ann Oberman to stage Shakespeare's most famous monologues, duologues and even group scenes under some of the strictest lockdown conditions in the world. The result of which was a vast body of work that spoke to the human condition and served as a reminder of what truly does, and always has bound us.
Max Hutchinson plays Bottom the Weaver from A Midsummer Night's Dream.. He has had a most rare dream of life before the world changed.
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Liam Horrigan plays Thomas Moore, reacting to the racist backlash that followed the Covid 19 outbreak.
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Jessica Temple and Maxim Ays play Ferdinand and his Princess from Loves Labour's Lost. She's looking for a night of romance, but he has promised to "Save lives, stay home and protect the NHS"..​​
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"The best of the new online theatrical content I've come across" âœâœâœâœâœ London Theatre 1
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"Bard From The Barn is well worth a watch, for both avid fans of Shakespeare and a wider audience of theatre fans"
West End Best Friend