DETAILS
CAST SIZE
M
F
1
1
0
GENRES
One Actor, Drama, Shakespearean
ADULT / YOUTH
Adult
TIME PERIOD
Elizabethan (1603)
SETTING
Minimal (A street in Southwark)
CAUTIONS
Depiction of animal cruelty and death by natural causes.
ISBN
978-1-7396920-4-9
LICENSE FEE
£55 per performance
DESCRIPTION
Will 'Cavaliero' Kempe was one of the finest performers of the Elizabethan age. Gentleman player, juggling jester, headmaster of Morris dancers and London's finest clown, until...he fell out with Will 'git face' Shakespeare.
Kempe died alone and poverty stricken, not very far from the original Globe Theatre, of which he was an original shareholder and faded into obscurity. A world away from his former life having supposedly originated some of literature's best-known characters, including Bottom, Dogberry, and Falstaff.
Join Cavaliero Kempe as he gives his final performance to an audience of a mouse and a marrote, and tells us what really happened between him and William Shakespeare. A bittersweet tale, told by an idiot.
The play premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2021 receiving rave reviews from audience and critics alike. It sold out its 2022 season at the Edinburgh Fringe and then went on to tour, appearing at both the National Theatre, Craiova, Romania as part of the International Shakespeare Festival and the York International Shakespeare Festival.
A superb play for a skilled actor and creative team.