NO CURTAINS
These companies are staging cutting-edge theater — without traditional stages
‘ALL the world’s a stage,” said Shakespeare. And he was right: His own works are headed to four Hell’s Kitchen bars and a Brooklyn recycling center.
Theaters are so 16th century. In the next several weeks, you’ll find Shakespeare and Chekhov surfacing in places you’d never dreamed possible. Not only that: You’ll pay a lot less than usual to see them, too.
Here are a few of the more intriguing productions.
THE BARD OVER BEER
What: Hoist a pint (make it four) while the New York Shakespeare Exchange serves up Shakespeare with a side dish of “Cyrano” and “Lysistrata” during a Hell’s Kitchen pub crawl. Producer Ross Williams says it recalls the boisterous back and forth of the Bard’s Globe Theatre.
Where: After launching at Jasper’s Taphouse & Kitchen, 761 Ninth Ave., players and audience stagger on to the Gaf West, the Waylon and Perdition nearby. Sept. 23 and 30 from 3 to 6 p.m. Tickets, $49; includes four drinks; ShakespeareExchange.org
CHEKHOV ON AN ISLAND
What: “The Plantation” director Claire Beckman’s adaptation of “The Cherry Orchard” is set in post-Civil War Virginia, where freed slaves are coming into their own, much as Chekhov’s Russian serfs did.
Where: The Commanding Officer’s House, an elegant mansion on Governors Island with tall white columns and lanterns. Expect to find actors on the veranda and singers in the house.
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 24 at 1:30 p.m., via free ferries from Manhattan and Brooklyn; most tickets free; reserved seats, $25; BraveNewWorldRep.org
‘MACBETH’ IN A CAN
What: The Scottish play, re-imagined as “Makbet,” performed by an Eastern European-accented troupe of six (accompanied by accordion) inside a shipping container. At about 8 feet wide and 20 feet long, it’s a perfect fit, says Dzieci Theatre director Matt Mitler, for “the most claustrophobic and internally tormented” of Shakespeare’s tragedies. (Did we mention there’s an accordion?)
Where: Sure We Can, a nonprofit recycling center at 219 McKibbin St., Bushwick Various dates and times from Sept. 6 to Oct. 8; Tickets, $20; DzieciTheatre.org