CEDAR CITY, Utah — The Utah Shakespeare Festival will feature nine different plays during the 2018 season.
Information about each play, taken from the Utah Shakespeare Festival website, can be found below.
Othello
Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre
June 28 – October 13, 2018
Brimming with incredible passion and anguish, as well as very human tenderness, this tragic story will lure you into a powerful world of jealousy and betrayal. Fast moving and devastating, Othello is one of Shakespeare’s most haunting plays, exploring how fear and jealousy can destroy the most intelligent minds and the purest of loves.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre
June 28 – September 8, 2018
Falstaff in love? Hardly! But the loveable old renegade does have his lusty eye on a couple of middle-class housewives. Trouble is feminine wit and wisdom triumph once again as the amused and annoyed wives teach Sir John a lesson in this bubbling, popular comedy sure to please everyone in the family.
Henry VI Part One
Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre
June 29 – September 6, 2018
Henry V has died, and his young son is soon crowned Henry VI. In France, war is raging. At home in England various factions are claiming the right to the throne, choosing between the symbolic red and white roses. In this seldom-produced history, Shakespeare gathers these threads together and combines them into a powerful tapestry of a country soon to be racked by civil war.
The Foreigner
Randall L. Jones Theatre
June 29 – October 13, 2018
Charlie, shy and seeking solitude, is on vacation at a Georgia hunting lodge. Avoiding the other guests, he pretends he is a foreigner, understanding no English. However, he soon witnesses bizarre schemes by people who think he can’t understand a word they say, leading to confusion and non-stop hilarity that set up one of the funniest endings in all of theatre.
Big River
Randall L. Jones Theatre
June 30 – September 1, 2018
Mark Twain’s timeless classic sweeps us down the mighty Mississippi as the irrepressible Huck Finn helps his friend Jim, a slave, escape to freedom. Their adventures along the way are hilarious, suspenseful, and heartwarming, bringing to life your favorite characters from the novel, and leaving you humming tunes such as “River in the Rain,” “Worlds Apart,” and the rousing anthem “Free at Last.”
The Merchant of Venice
Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre
June 30 – September 7, 2018
Whether you consider this thought-provoking masterpiece a story of love and humor or one of racism and greed, Shakespeare’s controversial tragicomedy will touch your soul. Its modern and relevant themes and memorable characters could have been drawn from today’s headlines, and will certainly cause you to pause and think about justice and mercy, the complexity of humankind, and the nature of forgiveness and love.
An Iliad
Randall L. Jones Theatre
July 12–October 9
“Every time I sing this song, I hope it’s the last time.” So says the Poet in this modern retelling of an ancient classic. The Trojan War is over, and the Poet saw it all—unquenchable rage and endless battles. The telling sometimes overwhelms him, but he must sing. He must tell his sad tale of humanity’s unshakeable and perpetual attraction to violence, destruction, and chaos.
Pearl’s in the House
Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre
August 23 – October 13, 2018
Workshopped at the Festival in 2017, this musical play focuses on Pearl Bailey, performer and special delegate to the United Nations in a racially-charged mid-twentieth century America. Bailey was a trailblazer for African-American women; yet a talk-show host in 1987 questions many of her motives. So Bailey responds the only way she knows how—through her music.
The Liar
Randall L. Jones Theatre
September 14 – October 13, 2018
The charming Dorante cannot tell the truth, and his manservant Cliton cannot tell a lie. From this simple premise springs one of the Western world’s greatest comedies, a spirited seventeenth-century French farce brilliantly adapted for today, complete with mistaken lovers, suspicious fathers, sparkling romance, frothy comedy, and an abundance of breathtakingly intricate “alternative facts.”
Tickets for the fifty-seventh annual Festival season are now on sale. To purchase tickets or for more information visit http://www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
