The ShakeFest is a miniature Shakespeare festival for book clubs or other groups to perform, especially designed for adults or teens who may know nothing about his work or think they have little interest in it. You can be edified by it, or just enjoy the party, or both (my friend Tom exclaimed, "I hate Shakespeare, but this is fun!").

NO memorization is required, but hamming it up and extreme creativity are encouraged! My friends have done Ophelia in drag, Hamlet and his mother with sock puppets, and Ariel's report to Prospero in PowerPoint; and my cat has played the role of Macbeth (see Kitty Karaoke Macbeth).

The Fest text includes some of the juiciest excerpts from eleven plays, together with brief introductions giving an idea of what’s going on and pointers to “deeper” meanings. The text also includes pics from my own friends' performance/party in 2003 (and you can see more visuals from subsequent Fests here: 2005, 2007, and 2008).

The ShakeFest text is in Adobe PDF format and contains 87 pages. Enjoy!

Did you know that just a few years before Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, Shakespeare's own, only son, named Hamnet, died? Or that Shakespeare fathered twins (twins are key in both The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night)? Could you use a little succinct help sorting out the familial relations and alliances in the history plays?

The ShakeFest Biographical & Historical Supplement is especially written for novice as well as more advanced readers, relatively short and easy to read while including more juicy details than I’ve found in most sources aimed at beginners – this is the companion guide I wish I'd had while first studying the plays. A handy chronology of when the plays were probably written and a brief bibliography are included.

The Supplement contains 27 pages in an Adobe PDF document.