I call him that because we’re family.

In what will hopefully be an avalanche of lovely stories about all things Live Arts and Fringe, J. Cooper Robb reports for the Philadelphia Weekly on the adventurous Shakespeare and Shakespeare-inspired productions as part of the two Festivals. Quoth Robb:

“[Shakespeare]’s technically been responsible for thousands of hours of dull, turgid theater over the last few centuries (even though he obviously needs to be credited with thousands more of great theater), and the festival is all about breaking those conventions. This year, though, there’s a subset of groups taking on the Bard instead of dodging him, with at least five shows based on the words, images and ideas of Shakespeare.”

We’ll go with the hours of great theater, thanks. Shows like: Romeo and Juliet, Jester’s Dead, ¡EL CONQUISTADOR!, Titus Andronicus, and Cankerblossom, all of which Robb discusses.

–Nicholas Gilewicz

Image credit: Rhett Henckel.