English Actors Bring Shakespeare To Life

by Chris Radford Friday, Aug. 09, 2002 at 3:10 AM
ImagoTour2002@aol.com 860 690 5716

To celebrate their 10th Anniversary, English student Theatre Company, Imago, have been travelling across America with their show, William Shakespeare's The Tempest. It arrives in Los Angeles on 14th August.

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RELEASE DATE: IMMEDIATE COPY STARTS
Imago Theatre Company present
The Trans-American Tour of
William Shakespeare’s
THE TEMPEST

Wednesday 14th August @ 7.30pm
Tickets: $10

Box Office 818 989 7655

Audiences have a chance to gain an insight into the great British playwright, William Shakespeare, when English students from The Imago Theatre Company present The Tempest at the 24th Street Theatre, 1117 West 24th Street, Los Angeles.

The production, which stars English and American actors, portrays the main character Prospero, as a writer rather than a magician.

‘The Tempest’ was Shakespeare’s last play and is seen by many as being an autobiographical tale. Imago’s production demonstrates this and explores the theory that Prospero is possibly written to be Shakespeare himself.

The play is as close as we get to see Shakespeare’s own character on stage and the context sees him at the height of his career.

During the course of the play, Imago explore how hard it is to be a writer and to produce work under great pressure. It looks at the internal working of a writer’s mind and examines the art of writing.

The creative production, which is travelling from the East coast to the West coast of America during the summer, offers a vibrant avant-garde version of this well-known text.

This production sees changes to the traditional island and magic themes. In Imago’s show, the island is Prospero’s imagination and the vividness and creativeness of his mind represent the magic. Also the three Ariel’s represent Prospero’s imagination and his conversations with himself.

Imago Theatre Company, which has earned an outstanding reputation for producing high-quality non-professional productions on both sides of the Atlantic, make a welcome return to at The 24th Street Theatre to stage the play.

Imago Theatre Company is highly respected in the USA, having undertaken ten tours in America since 1992, and has earned itself many accolades including a review in ‘The New York Times’ which concluded ‘This is a highly professional young company’.

The cast members are mostly aged between 16-20 years, with the 19-strong team tackling a strenuous schedule which sees them travelling 7,500 miles, spanning 20 states in five weeks.

Tickets for Imago Theatre Company’s production of The Tempest are $10 each, from the Box Office on 818 989 7655.

COPY ENDS
For further details, interviews and photographs
please contact the Theatre Marketing Department on 818 989 7655,
or e-mail Tour Manager Nancy Anglin on ImagoTour2002@aol.com
or call Adam Brandt (actor) on 860 690 5716.

Imago Theatre Company, which is based in Weston-super-Mare, England, gives young people the opportunity to produce and perform in physical, challenging, and often unconventional theatre. Following ten successful tours of America, the company now has a number of American members, some of whom appear in this production.