alternativeTheatre
the home of inamoment theatre
theatre with a beat!
Theatre ¦ Shakespeare
UNDOING ¦ UNLEARNING ¦ UNBEING
AlternativeDigitalisation
Taking OUR Theatre out of THE Theatre
In 2021 we put in an (unsuccessful) bid to YouTube to be part of their initiative to get
Theatre better represented on YouTube. Our bid, Taking Our Theatre
out of The Theatre, opened our eyes to the possibilities that
going digital offers us.
In the same year, we commissioned Master Productions to film our new play,
Romeo & Juliet: The Confessions, mixing footage from 2 cameras.
In 2022, the decision was taken to make all our future
AlternativeShakespeare work part of this project.
To get started, we feel it is important to clearly understand and identify
what makes AlternativeShakespeare work so well digitally, as well
as what needs to change to be fully digital.
We are currently pursuing that work, click here to get
regular updates via our Newsletters.
Podcasts
With the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2019, we took to Zoom in a big way,
understanding the potential to facilitate and capture our creative process.
The recordings of these Zooms now form a significant database of
material, which our Podcast (due to go live in 2022) regularly
taps into.
Social Media
Having a presence on social media has always been for us a
part of our publicity machine, but little more.
Instead, websites have been our main method of communication,
but they now form the hub of our reach-out to share
our work across the digital world.
With that, we now actively embrace active participation in
the benefits of joined-up social media, across Twitter
and Facebook via our newsletter.
Digital PlayBooks
In 2017, we realised there would be potential in digitalising our plays as PlayBooks,
for world-wise availability via Amazon. Thus Time after Time was reborn
as our first Playbook, Shakespeare's Dream.
Over the coming years, we aim to digitalise all our alternativeShakespeare
plays as PlayBooks, which will include
Romeo & Juliet for all Time ¦ King Lear (alone) ¦ Macbeth Killing Time Tempestfugit:Prospero's Will ¦
Ophelia, Princess of Denmark ¦ Time Out of Joint Cordelia/Fool ¦ An Audience with Sir John Falstaff
Romeo & Juliet: The Confessions ¦ Antony & Cleopatra Unto Death
All our published AlternativeShakespeare PlayBooks can be found on Amazon - please click here.
Videos of our Productions
Up to about 2017, our output focus was on creating and performing new plays for the stage,
with one notable exception - the videoing of all our work. From the very outset,
we commissioned a 3 camera capture of Time after Time (our very first play).
Thereafter, all our play performances have been captured on video
(albeit with only 1 camera!), resulting in an
extensive back catalogue of footage.
Our intention over the next 12 months is to edit a number of these and upload them onto our YouTube channel.
A troubled Shakespeare has a most disturbing dream; a dream where characters from his family,
and from his plays, come to life – can they help him find his true destiny?
Ever imagined what went on inside Shakespeare’s mind . . .
Imagine entering, not just someone else’s dream, but the dream of one of
the most active and engaging imaginations of all time;
Imagine, a night in the life of Shakespeare; a night of dreams, where
characters from his real life, and his writing, together come alive;
Imagine you are there, sharing Shakespeare’s feelings and thoughts,
his anguish and hopes, his delight and wonder.
Shakespeare is under pressure. His next opening night is but days away, and he has yet to finish the script.
He’s having problems with his family in Stratford. And he’s also under suspicion of treason . . .
Shakespeare’s Dream introduces the reader to the mesmerizing world of Shakespeare, told as an imagined dream.
He retires to bed, to sleep, perchance to… Agitated, and struggling to reconcile life’s demands with artistic desires,
an every day Will is haunted by his yet-to-be-born creations, metamorphosing where time & mortality have no
boundaries. Stumbling from one dream scene to the next, can he resolve his issues before coming dawn?
Shakespeare’s Dream is a fascinating insight into the workings of the mind of a genius, playing as it does with many
of the themes and words of Shakespeare’s plays. Through the dream, we get an understanding of how his real-life
issues helped shape his literary creations; in the doing of, we see the man behind the dry perception of
‘the great’ Shakespeare - ultimately, he was a regular human being, just like the rest of us.
For all readers, including those who maybe aren’t too familiar with Shakespeare; and for those who are, it’s a
fascinating opportunity to ‘spot’ the real-life and literary characters, as well as enjoy again the many quotes
from his plays. Shakespeare's world, as never told before - a veritable carnival of dream images
and Shakespeare quotes, a unique retelling of his life and work.
Grab the opportunity, spend a night with William Shakespeare - and treat yourself
to one of the most extraordinary books on Shakespeare ever published.
Selection of quotes from Play Reviews and Audience Feedback; for more please click here
"Overall this is a superb, delightful production."
“Shakespeare’s great creations are forever being interpreted from a new angle, transmuted by the light of innovation."
“ . . . constitutes the underlying theme of Frank Bramwell’s strongly-researched and excellently presented production,
which provokes a plethora of thoughts and dreams.”
“An excellent and beautiful setting for an extraordinary and fascinating production.”
“Thoroughly enjoyed everything about the performance.”
"You have inspired my Shakespearean studies.”
“Very clever and integrated famous quotes/references well.”
“Overall it was a really enjoyable performance and certainly deserves to be seen by a bigger audience”
Romeo & Juliet for All Time
The Edinburgh Fringe award-winning play published as a book in 2022!
REVIEW: EDINBURGH: Hairline
“The playwright, Frank Bramwell, has struck on a very clever idea and created an intelligently written play which luckily never slips into an English Literature style discussion. So, forget Shakespeare’s version, put your thinking cap on and prepare to be re-educated!”
Grading: 4 out of 5: Winner of a Hairline Highlight award (given to the top plays that are head and shoulders above others reviewers have seen)
REVIEW: EDINBURGH: Three weeks
“This innovative and original play from Heart Productions brings together talented actors with an artful script in Shakespearean language.” Grading: 4 out of 5
REVIEW: BUXTON: Fringe Review
“This was a complex and very clever … new look at the play. Take your sharpest wits with you, and listen carefully, but also be prepared to be carried along by the pace, skill and style of the presentation … a fascinating tangent ... another hour of life …see if you can manage to right the wrongs. I don't think I've ever seen such raw energy and physical commitment in a Fringe performance … The audience loved them ‑ and showed it enthusiastically at the close.” Nominated for the ‘Best Writing’ award
Audience Feedback Out Takes
“It’s very rare for our staff to be so united in their glowing praise of a Fringe Show – but all those who saw it were stunned, and everyone unable to make it this time was very disappointed to have missed out. James, the venue manager, … genuinely rated your show among the top six Fringe shows he has seen in his decade working at the Festival.”
“I was so overcome with emotion that by the end I couldn't stop shaking. This coupled with the clever, imaginative slant on the original script resulted in a truly magical evening's entertainment.”
“Witnessing the differing styles of delivery of similar dialogue throughout, taught me more about performing Shakespeare than I ever thought possible. I just hope I can keep the memory in my mind always. I was really very impressed with the show, it was both funny, touching and crucially haunting.”
“Despite being a hardened English graduate and drama trainee - it still allowed me to look at the play in an entirely new way, and lines that find it hard to escape an iconically cliched status seemed revitalised with a whole new sense and meaning.”
“It was wonderful to see just how well the format of mixing and effectively refreshing Shakespearian text works. So all in all - a big congrats!”
“. . . . . is layered with meaning and spirituality in a broader sense; it is a play that challenges and intrigues the audience.”
“Shakespeare’s original texts are reinvented in a thought-provoking manner.”
“. . . . . . bold and exciting interpretation. Cutting-edge playwriting. Highly recommended.”
“I found your play 'Romeo and Juliet for All Time' very affecting - especially at the end. The words! the acting! the music! the way the words are used powerfully in a different way each time they come! There was so much energy & vibrancy from the characters the 1hr & 40 mins just flew by. It was a truly engrossing piece & a fascinating idea.”
“There was so much that was good about it - the fight scenes & movement aspects of the piece were brilliantly done. It was a joy to watch.”
“The idea is very clever, a Shakespearean "Ground Hogs Day" if you like, certainly well written. A delightful extension to the original theme. Beautifully portrayed. I’m sure Mr Shakespeare would have loved it.”
“I understood it so completely; my emotions were stirred through tears and laughter.”
“Writing, direction, in fact everything gelled together to make a wonderful night out.”
“It was absolutely fantastic!!! Every aspect of the production was brilliant! . . . . as it was the most thoughtful and moving play I have ever seen. Thank you!”
“This production should be put to a wider audience for more people to appreciate this work of art.”
“… rarely is an audience given the chance to see the same scene developed to appreciate the talents of the performers - your play was an excellent vehicle for the viewer to reassess the language and the meaning of the great bard.”
“The show was absolutely brilliant! My wife Barbara and I saw Romeo and Juliet for All Time at Buxton last year, and enjoyed it very much. Barbara loves Shakespeare anyway, but before your show I would have said that West Side Story was the only good thing to have come out of Romeo and Juliet!"
“Play intriguing – words wonderful!”