Antonio!

Produced by Butch Mermaid Productions

The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall

Time 17.00

Duration: 45 minutes

Written by William Duignan and Ania Upstill (Director)

Cast: Andy Manning, Ania Upstill, Evan Michael Smith, Felix Crossley-Pritchard

What have I been to? Every year, Edinburgh re-invents Shakespeare, but none in such an innovative and entertaining way. We arrive in to the soothing tunes of ‘Greensleeves’ and that’s the end of the serenity. There are five of Shakespeare’s ‘fools’ on stage.

A band of merry musicians ‘The Fools for Love’ hurl their comedy and rock from the stage concentrating on the many ‘Antonio’s (Duignan) used in Shakespeare’s text, and roll them all into a kilted, moustached rocker who tell us through original songs how Antonio had his stories from his globetrotting ‘borrowed’ by the Bard to great comic and romantic effect.

This piratical crew can sing. The band of 5, can play, and they entertain! There is a story of Antonio’s unsuccessful romantic life, though not for want of encounters. This New Zealand and New York based company has a lovely mix of accent and diversity. The setting is queer, the stories are queer and the music and comedy is spot on. Shakespeare as you’ve never quite seen or heard it before, but you really should. Highly entertaining.