Tag Archives: After Shakespeare

EdFringe Talk: After Shakespeare

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2023 by

“I’ve learned the value of putting yourself out there – you never know what might happen, or who you’ll meet.”

WHO: Lexi Wolfe

WHAT: “What happens to Shakespeare’s best-loved heroes and most reviled villains after the curtain falls? Come and join a host of familiar Shakespearean characters as they reflect back on their lives: including Lady Macbeth, Portia, Hamlet and King Hal (Henry V). Lexi Wolfe weaves together Shakespeare’s words, historical research, and her own dramatic spark, as she transforms into four distinct characters, to follow their onward journeys. Winner of Best Actress, Buxton Fringe 2021. ‘Lexi Wolfe is a formidable actor’ (Buxton Fringe).”

WHERE: theSpaceTriplex – Studio (Venue 38) 

WHEN: 16:05 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

As a company, yes. I performed here fresh out of training with The Yellow Wallpaper back in the Dark Ages (or so it seems) but this is the first time we’ve brought one of my own one woman shows to the Edfringe. It’s been somewhat of a goal for us to get it here, and it’s my co-creator Andrew’s first time EVER at the Fringe, so exposing him to the wealth of talent this place always has on offer has been something of a treat for me!

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

Oh cripes. Having fibromyalgia – an invisible illness – you need to learn to both pace yourself as well as give yourself a goal to strive towards. That’s the main thing I’ve learned. Also the value of putting yourself out there – you never know what might happen, or who you’ll meet.

Tell us about your show.

I wrote After Shakespeare during Lockdown as one of those Always Meant To projects. I took it to the Buxton Fringe two years ago and managed to get Best Female Actor that year!

I’ve done a number of one woman shows before, so it is as intended. Andrew has been amazing at sorting everything out for me to just have to learn the show and perform every day. We’ve been working together for over six years on the aforementioned shows. After this, we’ll likely be seeing if we can set something of a tour up, as it is doing better than even I hoped!

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

In the same venue is the Standard Short Long Drop – at the moment, the best thing I’ve seen at the Fringe this year. Can also recommend The Mitford Sisters, and Edmund Dehn’s performance in Lear Alone (right before us, and supported by Crisis) is just stunning!

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‘After Shakespeare’ (Venue 38, until AUG 26th)

Posted in 4*, EdFestivals 2023, Rated: Outstanding by

“For a title character who spends so much of the play talking about himself, it is no small achievement that Wolfe has found so much new to say about the Danish Prince.”

Editorial Rating:4 Stars (Outstanding)

Shakespeare is rightly considered one of the greatest historical portrait artists of all time if not always the most accurate. In a memorable and powerful quartet of monologues, Lexi Wolfe adds background to four of the most familiar of the Bard’s heroes and villains.

We enter to find a medieval barfly, someone who is used to taverns and the telling of tall tales. Henry V is descanting on his own deformity, an arrow wound received at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. The subject of Henry V’s facial surgery (and his ugliness) is the subject of numerous scholarly articles, but few of these treatments come close to Wolfe’s searing portrait of a very human monster. This is not the shining exemplar of patriotic valour rendered by a quill of the Swan of Avon. This is a less forgiving autopsy of power.

Through Portia, Wolfe is able to flex a different set of dramatic muscles. She delivers a kinder, though not more gentle, insight into a young woman trapped by circumstances in a gilded cage. This would have been a good moment to really change the pace and delivery style into something lighter and perhaps more humorous, a scalpel rather than a broadsword. Portia played a great trick on her nearest and dearest, as well as society at large I would have liked to have seen more twinkle and less brooding.

As Hamlet, Wolfe is more successful in unravelling the character’s motivations and internal processes. Each of the quartet is a scholarly essay on themes relating both to the drama on stage as well as to the play in historical context. Here this is most pronounced. Wolfe’s formidable scholarship is spotlit to best advantage. For a title character who spends so much of the play talking about himself, it is no small achievement that Wolfe has found so much new to say about the Danish Prince, or perhaps she simply says it more concisely.

It is as Lady Macbeth that Wolfe really brings her dramatic stage presence to bear. It’s like having meditatively watched a tank rolling up the garden path only to be surprised when it opens fire, demolishing the potting shed with a sudden, unleashed violence. It helps that physically, this is the character Wolfe seems most at home in. This finale could have been the alpha as well as the omega of the performance not simply for the power of the delivery, but for the length and breadth of the underpinning contextual analysis.

In their infinite wisdom and capacity to pick winners, EdFringe punters have not been slow to identify ‘After Shakespeare’ as one of this year’s standout shows, one not to be missed. Here is unapologetic Shakespeare nerdism. Here is an unforgettable performance. Here is an essay, or rather here are four essays, that deliver on the promise of adding colours to the chameleons. It is an exceptional piece of theatre which may age like a butt of malmsey wine and become a reliable favourite for those of us with a passion for new and clever ways to explore the Shakespearian universe.

Come for the story-retelling. Stay for the scholarship. Get your doublets on and go see this!

 

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EdFringe Talk: After Shakespeare

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2023 by

“I’ve had Long Covid ever since; with fatigue and brain fog filling my every day. Everything is a chore and requires a huge amount of effort – even answering these questions!”

WHO: Andrew Slade

WHAT: “What happens to Shakespeare’s best-loved heroes and most reviled villains after the curtain falls? Come and join a host of familiar Shakespearean characters as they reflect back on their lives: including Lady Macbeth, Portia, Hamlet and King Hal (Henry V). Lexi Wolfe weaves together Shakespeare’s words, historical research, and her own dramatic spark, as she transforms into four distinct characters, to follow their onward journeys. Winner of Best Actress, Buxton Fringe 2021. ‘Lexi Wolfe is a formidable actor’ (Buxton Fringe).”

WHERE: theSpaceTriplex – Studio (Venue 38) 

WHEN: 16:05 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is my first time, however by business partner, Lexi Wolfe (who is the writer and sole actor in the show) tries to visit when health allows (last time was back in 2016, I think), and last performed in Edinburgh back in 2009! So we’re both really excited to be making this journey as 2 people with disabilities this has been a real challenge – but we know we have a show with legs, even if ours sometimes let us down! We’re hoping the energy and enthusiasm, and sheer excitement of Edinburgh (a city we both love) will carry us through!

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

Oh wow. I guess don’t get Covid. I caught it twice at the start of 2022, and I’ve had Long Covid ever since; with fatigue and brain fog filling my every day. Everything is a chore and requires a huge amount of effort – even answering these questions! Fortunately I’ve just started a new treatment program, which I’m hoping will at least help me survive next month!

Tell us about your show.

Sooooo……After Shakespeare was the brainchild of Lexi. We both love our Shakespeare, but she took it a step further by making the thesis of her Masters at LIPA about the Bard, and so it was always going to happen at some point that we did something Shakespearean. She wrote it during lockdown as a way to not go stir crazy. We often have conversations about characters in books, TV and films wondering about how they got to where they are, or what their lives looked like after, and after a night of no or very little sleep I guess she took it to Shakespeare and asked the question about what Shakespeare’s characters would think about after their shows. Even the dead ones. So we have Henry V, Hamlet, Portia and Lady Macbeth lamenting and being generally perplexed about the state of their lives (except Portia, I think she’s generally really happy with her lot). The show is dramatic, funny and insightful as Lexi has woven in some historical facts about some of the characters along with the Shakespearean stories. We debuted the show over Zoom during lockdown, and then cut it down to a festival version that we wanted to bring to Edinburgh. We took it to Buxton Fringe first, were we were nominated for Best new Writing, Best Production and Lexi also won Best Actress – so enthused from that, we’ve ended up checking in to Edinburgh for the full run! As for the future….we have another performance booked in September, and we’d really like to tour it, or one of our other shows, so I guess watch this space!

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

Good question! Well I know a couple of others performing this year, and I think variety is so important – so I’d suggest going to see Mark Simmons show called New Jokes – he’s had jokes nominated for best joke at the Fringe for the last 2 years I believe, and is incredibly funny. Also go and see “Let The Bodies Pile” starring the amazing Emily Carding – you’ll get the combination of an award-winning writer, with an award-winning actress and a highly respected Director all in one show (a bit like ours, I guess!)

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