Fuller’s, the premium pubs and hotels business, is delighted to announce the welcome return of outdoor theatre, specifically Shakespeare in the Garden. Produced by theatre company Open Bar, this year’s production sees Love’s Labour’s Lost and As You Like It taking centre stage in pub gardens across the Fuller’s estate. This is the tenth consecutive year that Fuller’s pub customers have been able to enjoy alfresco productions from Britain’s greatest playwright.
After the somewhat disrupted year we’ve had, we are all in need of a “Summer of Love”, and the two plays Open Bar are bringing to the stage are just that. Full of comedy, romance and adventure, accompanied with original songs to help follow the plot, the shows truly are for everyone.
This year’s production offers 64 performances across 39 Fuller’s pubs from 13 July to 16 September 2021 and tickets can be purchased from fullers.co.uk/shakespeare
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.”
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.”
Love’s Labour’s Lost – Play Synopsis
Four men decide to lock themselves away from all human connection (imagine!) to study and improve themselves, - but they soon find that it really isn't as simple as that, especially when the Princess of France and her three beautiful friends are coming to stay. Four couples separated by an oath, a “fantastical Spaniard” longing for a forbidden love, misplaced letters, a ridiculous play-within-a-play, a chorus of ukuleles, lightning-fast costume changes, drinks at your fingertips all make for a riotous Shakespeare comedy. Four actors will play all seventeen characters in this mischievous, and rather pertinent, love story. Laughter, romance and, perhaps most importantly, the longest word in Shakespeare.
As You Like It – Play Synopsis
Rosalind escapes her vicious uncle, dresses as a boy (because this is Shakespeare after all) and heads for the forest. There she meets a group of shepherds, and the boy she loves who also happens to be on the run from her uncle. Run away with Rosalind and Celia as the Forest of Arden quite literally lands in Fuller’s pub gardens this summer. It may look fresh out of Shakespeare’s day, but it’s as relevant as ever, with original songs to help audiences follow the plot and six actors leaping around an impressive two-storey set. A full list of venues, performances and ticket prices can be found at www.fullers.co.uk/shakespeare
SHAKESPEARE IN THE GARDEN – FULL LIST OF DATES & VENUES
LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST The Plough Inn, Ealing 13, 14, 15 July
The Gun, Docklands 17, 24 July
The Prince Albert, Twickenham 19 July
The White Buck, Burley 20, 21 July
The Mayfly, Stockbridge 22, 23 July
The Castle, Harrow 26, 27, 28 July
The Ship Inn, Langstone 29 July
The Hampshire Hog, Clanfield 30 July
The George IV, Chiswick 1, 2 August
The Windmill, Portishead 4, 5 August
The Cromwell Arms, Romsey 6, 7 August
The Bear of Burton, Christchurch 9, August
The Chineham Arms, Basingstoke 10 August
The Turks Head, Twickenham 11, 12 August
Bel and The Dragon, Reading 13 August
The Talkhouse, Stanton 15 August
The Boat, Berkhamstead 16 August
The Fox and Hounds, Lyndhurst 18 August
AS YOU LIKE IT The Pilot, Greenwich 26, 27 July
The Rose and Crown, Ealing 28, 29 July
The Frog and Wicket, Eversley 3 August
The Drayton Court, Ealing 5 August
The King and Queen, Caterham on the Hill 7, 8 August
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