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Simon Callow as Shakespeare
Simon Callow as Shakespeare

Simon Callow Is Being Shakespeare at Trafalgar

Date: 25 April 2011

Simon Callow’s latest one-man show, in which he plays William Shakespeare, will transfer to the West End this summer. Being Shakespeare has a limited season, from 15 June to 23 July 2011, at Trafalgar Studios 1.

The show, previously entitled Shakespeare – The Man from Stratford, earned Callow a nomination for Best Solo Performance in this year’s Whatsonstage.com Awards, following its run last July at Richmond Theatre. The piece, co-written by Bard scholar Jonathan Bate, premiered in June 2010 at the Theatre Royal Plymouth before touring and culminating with a month at the Edinburgh Fringe.

In Being Shakespeare, Callow endeavours to “track down the real William Shakespeare” in a “a magical tour-de-force”, which “brings to life both the man and the unforgettable characters, who have since conquered the world’s stages”.

Callow has enjoyed previous Edinburgh and touring success with his one-man shows The Mystery of Charles Dickens and Dr Marigold & Mr Chops. His other recent stage credits include Sir Peter Hall’s 80th birthday production of Twelfth Night at the National and Waiting for Godot opposite Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, while his many films include Four Weddings and a Funeral and Shakespeare in Love.

Writer Jonathan Bate is a Shakespeare biographer and editor of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He is also currently Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at the University of Warwick and a Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His books include The Genius of Shakespeare and Soul of the Age: The Life, Mind and World of William Shakespeare.

<Being Shakespeare is directed by Tom Cairns, whose theatre work includes Phaedra (Donmar), All About My Mother (Old Vic), and The Odyssey and Aristocrats (National).

Currently at Trafalgar Studios 1, End of the Rainbow, starring Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland, finishes its extended season on 21 May 2011, prior to a UK autumn tour, US opening at Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater in January 2012 and a planned Broadway transfer. Between the two productions at Trafalgar Studios, there’s a break for a planned refurbishment of the auditorium’s seating.

- by Terri Paddock

Related Content

Booking Tickets & Show Listings
End of the Rainbow Listing Page
Internal Links
Bennett Is Garland Again, End of the Rainbow Tours - 23rd Jun 2011 news
Donmar Announces Second Trafalgar Residency - 21st Apr 2011 news
Only the Beginning for End of the Rainbow??? - 29th Mar 2011 gossip
Bennett's Garland Shines Through Rainbow - 7th Jan 2011 blog
1st Night Photos: Judy Brought to Life by Bennett - 23rd Nov 2010 photos
Review Round-up: Critics Find Gold at Rainbow - 23rd Nov 2010 roundup
End of the Rainbow starstarstarstarstar - 23rd Nov 2010 reviews
Past/Present/Future for ... Tracie Bennett - 16th Nov 2010 interviews
Bennett Plays Garland in London Rainbow, 22 Nov - 1st Oct 2010 news
Shakespeare, the Man from Stratford starstarstarstar - 8th Aug 2010 reviews
My Life in Pieces: Simon Callow’s Alternative Autobiography - 5th Jul 2010 features
Simon Callow on Shakespeare, Dickens and Jesus - 23rd Jun 2010 interviews
Shakespeare – The Man from Stratford (tour – Cambridge) starstarstarstar - 23rd Jun 2010 reviews
Shakespeare - The Man from Stratford (Tour - Oxford) starstarstarstar - 22nd Jun 2010 reviews
The Man from Stratford (Tour- Liverpool) starstarstar - 17th Jun 2010 reviews
The Man from Stratford: Being Shakespeare (Plymouth) starstarstarstarstar - 13th Jun 2010 reviews
Callow Tracks Shakespeare in New One-Man Show - 21st Apr 2010 news

External Links
Whatsonstage.com Awards microsite


Reader Comments


CommentDate
I hope they put some arms on the seats at the Trafalgar Studios, seem to regularly have someone large sitting next to me taking half of my seat! They are the most uncomfortable seats anyway! - westend

26 Apr 11


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