Cirrus@Austlit

'A recent purge of academics and courses at a Conservatorium of Music at an Australian university has left the remaining staff and their students demoralised, their only life raft the joy they find in making music. Dr Richard Fenchurch lecturer, conductor and Mozart scholar, reluctantly agrees to lead the Conservatorium through the maelstrom, following the mysterious departure of the Head of Music. Fenchurch finds himself caught between the smooth-talking PVC Professor Graham Gombold with his promises of musical manna, and his mutinous colleagues, led by Dr Lucy Golding, who are firmly against any further cuts or changes to the curriculum.'  (Production summary)

'Shakespeare's Fools explores the evolution of the various fools in Shakespeare's plays through the actors who helped create the original characters. Richard Tarlton, Wil Kemp (who famously jigged all the way from London to Norwich circa 1600) and Robert Armin were the 16th century's equivalent of our contemporary standup comics, as well as prima donnas with zany party pieces. They all played a role in the creating of the fools in Shakespeare's plays, from Touchstone in As You Like It to Feste in Twelfth Night and, most poignantly, the humanising "Fool" of King Lear.'

'Caulfield brings these actors and their fools to life again, along with the Bard himself, in an exciting new work that combines wit, bawdy ballads, buffoonery, slapstick, wordplay and unashamed vulgarity with a serious look at the wisdom of Shakespeare's fools. Oh, and quite a bit of jigging!'

Source: Civic Theatre Playhouse website, http://www.civictheatrenewcastle.com.au/
Sighted: 01/09/2010