All world’s a stage ... all the men and women pub-goers!
When Will -iam Shakespeare wrote “all the world’s a stage” it’s doubtful he envisaged his epic plays being performed in beer gardens!
But customers at Fuller’s pubs across the country can enjoy Love’s Labour’s Lost and As You Like It with a pint in hand this summer.
The pub and hotel firm has once again teamed up with aptly-named theatre company Open Bar to bring Shakespearean comedies to al fresco ale houses.
Open Bar co-founders, Nicky Diss and Vicky Gaskin, said: “We’re used to making innovative theatre in unusual spaces. Our shows are designed to work with their environment and surroundings, not against them.
“As the audience gets more enthusiastic (and more lubricated, we are in a pub garden after all) we use it to our advantage. We feed off their energy.
“They don’t have to understand every word but it’s important that we take them
with us ... that they leave humming the tunes and still laughing at the gags.
“Thanks to Fuller’s, we are in the extraordinary position of still being able to produce full-scale professional shows regardless of COVID-19 capacity restrictions, maintaining our high production values, employing artists and dreaming bigger and better for 2021.”
The pub company has been hosting Shakespeare in the Garden for ten consecutive years.
Fuller’s marketing director Jane Jones said: “Our partnership with Open Bar has proved incredibly popular with our customers, and successful for both Fuller’s and Open Bar. We were delighted to be able to continue with our joint venture even during the socially-restricted summer of 2020.
“The last year has been a real rollercoaster, and nowhere has that been felt more keenly than in the hospitality and performing arts sectors. Shakespeare in the Garden is truly the perfect experience we all deserve this summer – laughter, romance and, perhaps most importantly, an amazing pint in a beautiful Fuller’s pub garden.”
This year’s production offers 64 performances across 39 Fuller’s pubs from July 13 to September 16.
The two plays, which will see six actors leaping around an impressive two-storey set, are full of comedy, romance and adventure. The works are also accompanied with original songs to help you follow the plot.
The theme of Love’s Labour’s Lost will certainly resonate with many lockdown veterans. It focuses on four men who decide to lock themselves away from all human connection to study and improve themselves.
But their oath to put aside all thoughts of women and love soon come unstuck when the Princess of France and her three beautiful friends arrive.
Meanwhile, As You Like It centres on Rosalind who escapes from her vicious uncle after dressing as a boy and taking refuge in a forest. But things get complicated when Rosalind, still in disguise as Ganymede, encounters Orlando, whom she loves.
Venues, performances and prices at www.fullers. co.uk/shakespeare site.