Acting Up! with Shakespeare

What do you get when you cross a couple of lawyers, a doctor, a reverend and a politician?

If you’re attending Acting Up! with Shakespeare, you get an evening of Elizabethan elegance, raucous laughter and precarious prose.

The Grand is teaming up with Huron University College for what committee member and Grand Theatre Project Manager Dana Sloan calls a fresh, fun idea.

“It’s Shakespeare with a humorous twist. We’ve had plenty of excitement building since the early stages of this event,” she says.

On October 25, students from Huron University College will partner with local celebrities to bring some familiar, yet not-so familiar, stories to life. Guests will be greeted at Huron’s Great Hall with a reception, complete with cocktails and Elizabethan music, then escorted to the Kingsmill Room to be seated for an elegant four-course meal. Between each course, the celebrities and students will entertain with skits written by the students. Each will be inspired by the Bard’s classics, but re-written with comedic flair. Among them, Ms. Sloan says, will be the young lovers of Romeo and Juliet as well as MacBeth’s infamous three witches.

“In choosing which local celebrities would be involved, we wanted people that Londoners know from different sectors of the city. It was important that they have outgoing personalities and that they would be willing to get fully involved in the roles and not hold back. We definitely found what we were looking for.”

The famed five include MPP Deb Matthews, London lawyers Janet Stewart and James Caskey; John Leitch, Partner at KPMG LLP and The Very Rev. Dr. Terry Dance, Dean of the Anglican Cathedral.

“Our celebrities will be in full period costume and will be prepared to bring down the house. It’s going to be a fantastic night.”

Proceeds from this new project will provide support for ongoing youth initiatives at The Grand, including Grand Academy, Student Club and the High School Project. The theatre also subsidizes thousands of student matinee tickets each season for Theatre for Young Audiences and MainStage productions to create affordable class trips. Proceeds will also provide scholarship and bursary financial assistance for Huron University College students.

Tickets for Acting Up! with Shakespeare are $125 each or $1,000 for a table of eight. To purchase, please call Allison Kampman at (519) 438-7224 ext. 208.

For more information see http://www.huronuc.ca/actingup.