Shakespeare in Love is a play with music that was adapted for the stage by Tony Award® and Olivier Award®winning writer Lee Hall, based on the screenplay by Academy Award®-winning writer Marc Norman and Tony Award®, Olivier Award®, and Academy Award®-winning writer Tom Stoppard. A romantic piece of historical fiction, the story centers around a young Will Shakespeare as he struggles to find his inspiration. Enter the feisty, aristocratic Viola de Lesseps, who longs to be an actor. The relationship they forge serves as inspiration for Will’s greatest play – Romeo and Juliet.
This stage adaptation of the 1998 film brings Shakespeare’s dialogue to the forefront and highlights its theatrical origins. Much of the dialogue is taken from Shakespeare’s cannon (with Romeo and Juliet featured heavily throughout) and many of the plot devices employ tactics commonly found in plays of the Elizabethan age: cross-dressing disguises, mistaken identities, suspicions of adultery, sword fighting, a comedic nurse, and even visions of ghosts are all present, as is the enduring “play-within-a-play” convention that Shakespeare fondly adopted for many of his works. Overall, Shakespeare in Love delivers a delightfully crowd-pleasing, deeply romantic, and highly adventurous tale of love and drama in Renaissance-era England.
Cast
THE PLAYWRIGHTS
Will Shakespeare: Steve Morrow
Kit Marlowe: Chris Tanaka-Mann
THE DE LESSEPS HOUSE
Viola de Lesseps/Thomas Kent: Daina Zweig
Nurse: Audrey Amar
Sir Robert de Lesseps: Reg Good
Lord Wessex: Tommy Amoroso
Boatman: Ashley Sarilla
THE ROSE THEATRE
Henslowe: Matt Dolgin
Fennyman: David McEachern
Lambert: Robert Follows
Ralph: Robert Follows
Robin: Jonathan Zur
John Webster: Devon Beauregard
Wabash: Gillian Scott
Other Actors: Muhammed Celik, Daran Divanbeigi, Daniel Eido, Steve Kyriacopoulos, Ashley Sarilla
THE ADMIRAL’S MEN
Ned Alleyn: Chris Shackleton
Sam: Arad Judy
THE CHAMBERLAIN’S MAN
Richard Burbage: Darrell Hicks
Other Actors: Muhammed Celik, Daran Divanbeigi, Daniel Eido, Steve Kyriacopoulos, Ashley Sarilla
Spot, The Dog: the search continues!
THE PALACE
Mistress Quickly: Cheryl Lee
Lord Edmund Tilney: Seth Mukamal
Queen Elizabeth I: Brenda Massey-Beauregard
THE TAVERN
Bartender/Barman: Sophie Mackay
Kate & Molly: Stephanie de Pol, Sophie Klassen
ENSEMBLE
Devon Beauregard, Muhammed Celik, Abigail de Niverville, Stephanie de Pol, Daran Divanbeigi, Daniel Eido, Robert Follows, Arad Judy, Sophie Klassen, Steve Kyriacopoulos, Cheryl Lee, Sophie Mackay, Daniella Postavsky, Ashley Sarilla, Gillian Scott, Chris Shackleton, Jonathan Zur
INSTRUMENTALISTS
Oboe: Abigail de Niverville
Cello: Daniella Postavsky
Creative Team
Producers: Vinnie Sestito and Gwyneth Sestito
Director: Vinnie Sestito
Music Director: Gwyneth Sestito
Choreographer: Emma Bradford-Wilson
Stage Manager: Laurice Macaraeg
Set Designer: Peter Thorman
Lighting Designer: Charlotte Theraud
Location
Fairview Library Theatre
35 Fairview Mall Drive,
North York, ON,
M2J 4S4
Free Parking!