Last Updated on 29 May 2021 by Showcall Editorial Team
Theatre company Open Bar is to take Shakespeare’s rom-coms, Love’s Labour’s Lost and As You Like It, to pub gardens around England this summer
Casting has been announced for a tour of Shakespeare’s romantic comedies As You Like It and Love’s Labour’s Lost around pubs in England this summer.
Theatre company Open Bar is returning for its 10th year in a row to stage shows in pub gardens across the Fuller’s estate in what they are declaring to be a “summer of love”.
This year’s Shakespeare in the Garden productions offer 64 performances across 39 pubs from 13 July to 16 September 2021. Tickets are on sale at fullers.co.uk/shakespeare.
In As You Like It, the cast features Tianna Arnold as Rosalind, Thomas Judd as Orlando and Corin, Laura Ren Smithers as Celia and Old Adam, Emily Carding as Jacques and Oliver de Boys, Darrel Bailey as Duke Frederick, Duke Senior and Silvius, and Vicky Gaskin as Touchstone and Phebe.
In Love’s Labour’s Lost, the cast features Adam Courting as Lord Berowne, Lady Katherine and Sir Nathaniel, Grace Kelly Miller as the Princess of France, Don Armado and Holofernes, Charlotte Worthing as Lady Rosaline, Lord Longaville and Costard, and Stuart Turner as The King of Navarre, Boyet, Moth, Jaquenetta and Constable Dull.
In a statement, Open Bar co-founders Nicky Diss and Vicky Gaskin said: “We’re used to making innovative theatre in unusual spaces – our shows are designed to work with their environment and surroundings, not against them.
“As the audience gets more enthusiastic – and more lubricated, we are in a pub garden after all – we use it to our advantage. We feed off their energy. They don’t have to understand every word but it’s important that we take them with us, that they leave humming the tunes and still laughing at the gags.
“Thanks to Fuller’s, we are in the extraordinary position of still being able to produce full-scale professional shows regardless of Covid-19 capacity restrictions, maintaining our high production values, employing artists and dreaming bigger and better for 2021.”
Fuller’s marketing director, Jane Jones, added: “Our partnership with Open Bar has proved incredibly popular with our customers, and successful for both Fuller’s and Open Bar. We were delighted to be able to continue with our joint venture even during the socially-restricted summer of 2020.
“The last year has been a real rollercoaster, and nowhere has that been felt more keenly than in the hospitality and performing arts sectors. Shakespeare in the Garden is truly the perfect experience we all deserve this summer: laughter, romance and, perhaps most importantly, an amazing pint in a beautiful Fuller’s pub garden.”
Full list of dates and venues
Love’s Labour’s Lost
The Plough Inn, Ealing: 13, 14, 15 July
The Gun, Docklands: 17, 24 July
The Prince Albert, Twickenham: 19 July
The White Buck, Burley: 20, 21 July
The Mayfly, Stockbridge: 22, 23 July
The Castle, Harrow: 26, 27, 28 July
The Ship Inn, Langstone: 29 July
The Hampshire Hog, Clanfield: 30 July
The George IV, Chiswick : 1, 2 August
The Windmill, Portishead: 4, 5 August
The Cromwell Arms, Romsey: 6, 7 August
The Bear of Burton, Christchurch: 9, August
The Chineham Arms, Basingstoke: 10 August
The Turks Head, Twickenham: 11, 12 August
Bel and The Dragon, Reading: 13 August
The Talkhouse, Stanton: 15 August
The Boat, Berkhamstead: 16 August
The Fox and Hounds, Lyndhurst: 18 August
As You Like It
The Pilot, Greenwich: 26, 27 July
The Rose and Crown, Ealing: 28, 29 July
The Frog and Wicket, Eversley: 3 August
The Drayton Court, Ealing: 5 August
The King and Queen, Caterham on the Hill: 7, 8 August
The Chequers, Bicester: 10 August
The Calleva Arms, Silchester: 11 August
The Turks Head, Twickenham: 13 August
The Fox and Pelican: 15 August
The Oak, Aston Clinton: 16 August
The Links Tavern, Liphook: 18 August
The Mill, Elstead: 19, 20 August
The White Buck, Burley: 23, 24 August
The Red Lion, Chalton: 25 August
The Five Bells, Leighton Buzzard: 26 August
The Cambridge Arms, Bristol: 27, 28 August
The Jolly Farmer, Guildford: 31 August
The Alice Lisle, Ringwood: 1 September
The New Forest, Ashurst: 2 September
The Anglers, Teddington: 6, 7, 13, 14 September
The Kingswood Arms, Banstead: 8 September
The Red Lion, Barnes: 9, 10, 11 September
The Duke of Kent, Ealing: 15, 16 September
