Young Auditorium is on American Shakespeare Center’s 2016 Dangerous Dreams tour and will present two stage performances of classic, entertaining tales this week.
Oscar Wilde’s witty, biting comedy The Importance of Being Earnest will take the stage on Tuesday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m.; Shakespeare’s The Life of King Henry V will follow on Wednesday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m. Both events feature an optional “Soundbites” event at 6 p.m. in the Young Auditorium main lobby. Soundbites are pre-show discussions pertaining to the event given by a member of the cast or production company.
The auditorium is located at 930 W. Main Street in Whitewater (on the UW-Whitewater campus). Ticket prices for each show begin at $15.50.
In The Importance of Being Earnest, one of the main character notes, “It is awfully hard work doing nothing.” Oscar Wilde’s brilliant and wicked comic masterpiece defines wit and style. This “trivial comedy for serious people” is at once blissfully silly and outrageously shrewd. This story of two Victorian aristocrats trying to escape their social burdens combines Wilde’s wit and brilliance with that of the modern staging of ASC. The Importance of Being Earnest continues to delight audiences with its playful language, charming characters, and biting look at contemporary society.
ASC Guest Director Kevin Rich, notes, “This annoyed Oscar Wilde (the playwright), who created a work of art that challenged social norms and ideals in quite subversive ways, making silly things seem important, and helping us laugh at ourselves.”
Henry V is the story of England’s hero-king and the greatest upset in European military history. It is Shakespeare’s finale to his great history plays. More than that, Henry V – at once touching, heroic, savage, and comic – explores the nature of greatness and its connection to theatre.
ASC co-founder and artistic director, Jim Warren, states (about Henry V), “The older I get, the more excited I am about the secret and not-so-secret stories Shakespeare weaves with amazing layers of ambiguity in every single play he wrote. This production weaves together parts from several plays written about King Henry V. We’re doing all the big scenes and speeches Shakespeare’s company may have cut when they originally performed the play. And we’re going to work our butts off to give you all of the flavors, colors, and seemingly contradictory facets that Shakespeare provides.”
Tickets can be purchased online, by calling (262) 472-2222, or at The Greenhill Center of the Arts Box Office located inside the UW-Whitewater Center of the Arts building near Barnett Theatre on the UW-Whitewater Campus. The Young Auditorium is adjacent to this building, and parking is always free at the venue.
For more information visit www.uww.edu/YoungAuditorium.
