The Peru Project fundraising event: see the original publicity blurb below, along with information about the event and links to photos of the company in Non-Stop action!
NON-STOP SHAKESPEARE
1st - 3rd May 2004, Southwark, London
Are you ruff enough?
Thirty-seven plays. One weekend. Despotic kings, fat comedians, adultery, mass murder, bergomask dances, crossdressing, cakes and ale ...
Forget the London Marathon. Forget swimming the Channel or dashing up and down Ben Nevis. This is the Great British endurance test. We're going back to the borough where Shakespeare built his theatre to perform his Complete Works in one go, over one Bank Holiday weekend.
Ben and his mates hope to establish a new world record by completing this feat, which will be improvised, reading from scripts, ensuring every word of Shakespeare's text is performed. Situated on Bankside during the day, home of the reconstructed Globe Theatre, the record attempt will move to St Christopher's Church Hall in Walworth, Southwark overnight - lines still flying on the bus between, of course!
Turn up and support us on May 1st, 2nd and 3rd - you could even read in a few characters and be part of the record attempt!
"This project is brave, crazy and brilliant. It's for a great cause. Shakespeare himself would undoubtedly have approved."
Chris Smith MP, former Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport
"I did this myself once - drink lots of water! - and great good luck with this splendid cause!"
Kenneth Branagh, renowned Shakespearean actor and director
The Venues
BY DAY - Bankside - on the riverside path between The Globe and Tate Modern.
BY NIGHT - St Christopher's Church Hall, Tatum Street, Walworth, SE17.
The Schedule (vague, provisional, and also subject to change)
Sat 1st May, 7am - 7pm, Bankside
The Winter's Tale, The First Part of King Henry VI, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Hamlet, Richard II, The Comedy of Errors
Overnight
Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, Cymbeline, Timon of Athens, Coriolanus, Henry VIII, King John, Much Ado About Nothing, Titus Andronicus
Sun 2nd May, 7am - 7pm, Bankside
As You Like It, The First Part of King Henry IV, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear
Overnight
Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Second Part of King Henry VI, Troilus and Cressida, Antony and Cleopatra, Richard III, Pericles, The Second Part of King Henry IV, Julius Caesar, Othello
Mon 3rd May, 7am - ? ... Bankside
The Third Part of King Henry the damn VI, Henry V, Love's Labours Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream, All's Well That Ends Well
The Players
The Aftermath
Check out the photos page to see us in action!!
63 hours, 6 minutes, 46 seconds - The World Record?
Unofficially, yes - as we can't find any record of anyone having done such a thing faster! Unfortunately, the people at Guinness informed us that they did not wish to establish an official record for the Fastest Continual Performance of Shakespeare. Philistines.
© Ben James 2004