Shakedown Shakespeare

Yvette Nolan and Philip Adams

"Philip was the artistic director of Nakai Theatre (see below) and was interested in a TYA show about Shakespeare. I was spending a lot of time in Whitehorse, doing play creation projects in the schools and kids were telling me how boring they found Shakespeare. Not true, I said, everything is in Shakespeare! So we decided to write a piece as a primer for young audiences. I did most of the actual physical act of writing, Philip did most of the dramaturgy. The co-writing process actually all happened in the air, in the talking, in the talking out of the play. And then of course Philip directed the show, which was produced at the Guild and then toured" (qtd. from CASP's Interview with Yvette Nolan).

Excerpt from Shakedown Shakespeare

In this excerpt, King Lear's Fool explains the ending of Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet.

HAMLET Great. So how'd it turn out?

FOOL Badly, actually. Bodies Everywhere. Okay so this wasn't a great example. But it was true love.

HAMLET How badly?

FOOL Well, Juliet took the medicine and the Elder sent a letter - snail-mail - to Romeo.

JULIET lies on the counter and takes the drug. She pulls her scarf over her head.

FOOL But Romeo never got the Elder's message -

HAMLET He shoulda' FAX'd her.

FOOL No machine. Instead, he ran into a friend at the post office who had just come from Verona, who said that Juliet was dead, had pulled a Kurt Cobain, so he got himself his own drug - poison - and hurried back to Verona to see for himself.

ROMEO enters the tomb, sees JULIET. Pulls back the scarf from her face.

ROMEO Oh Juliet, how can you be dead? You are still so rad. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! ( he opens the poison ) Here's to my love! ( drinks ) Thus with a kiss I die. Ouch.

He dies. JULIET stirs.

JULIET Romeo? Romeo? Oh Romeo! What's here? A cup clos'd in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end - Ah churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop to help me after - I will kiss thy lips. Haply, some poison yet doth hang on them, to make me die with a restorative. ( kisses him ) Thy lips are warm.

Noise off

JULIET Yea, noise? Then I'll be brief - O happy dagger. This is thy sheath, there rust and let me die. Ouch.

She dies

MONTAGUE and CAPULET enter, crying

MONTAGUE Romeo! Don't! The Elder told us everything -

CAPULET Juliet! Wait! We can work it out -

They come upon the bodies

MONTAGUE Too late!

CAPULET Too late!

MONTAGUE & CAPULET See what a scourge is laid upon our hate That heaven finds means to kill our joys with love.

CAPULET Montague, truce -

MONTAGUE Capulet, I'm sorry -

They shake, embrace, and exit

HAMLET A bit late.

FOOL Right you are.

HAMLET Good story, Fool. But it doesn't really help me.

FOOL You love this Ophelia?

HAMLET Yes. No. It doesn't matter, Ophelia's not the problem. It's more, like - problems with my folks. Well, my step-father, the King of Denmark. They think I'm nuts - well, I guess my behaviour has been kinda nuts, but -

FOOL Ah yes, I've seen the problem before. You are intelligent, mature, a good kid, but your parents see you completely differently, they don't understand you. Just because they're parents doesn't mean they know everything, right? I worked for a man once, a king called Lear. I was devoted to him, but he sometimes had a hard time seeing his kids - he had three daughters - for what they were.

Nolan, Yvette, and Philip Adams. Shakedown Shakespeare. Toronto: Playwrights Union of Canada, 1997. 14-16.

For the complete script or permission to perform Shakedown Shakespeare, please contact Playwright's Guild of Canada

Link to Interview with Yvette Nolan

Link to Database

Nakai Theatre: Company History

"Nakai Players was founded in 1979 by Sheila Langston and Beth Mulloy. It served as a touring company, traveling to Yukon communities, also placing an emphasis on nurturing First Nations theatre. In 1989 Nakai Players merged with Separate Reality theatre to form the Nakai Theatre Ensemble.

The growth of the company into a professional theatre (the largest one north of 60) occurred as the Yukon arts community matured. Under Artistic Director Dawn Davies (1989–1995), Nakai focused more of its activities in Whitehorse, and began providing developmental opportunities to Yukon theatre practitioners, particularly for youth and First Nation artists. In 1986 Nakai created the 24 Hour Playwriting Competition, the first of its kind in Canada. Nakai also developed several plays which received second productions by "outside" theatre companies: Sixty Below by Patti Flather and Leonard Linklater, Land(e)scapes by Leslie Hamson and Running On Frozen Air by Gord McCall. Sixty Below received 7 Dora Mavor Moore Theatre Award nominations for its 1997 Toronto production.

Under Artistic Director Philip Adams (1995–1998), Nakai established a national reputation as a "development" company, providing northern playwrights with opportunities to create new work. In 1996, it created the New Theatre North Playwrights’ Festival, in which senior Canadian playwrights and dramaturges were brought in to work with local playwrights. Nakai forged stronger links with other theatre centres across the country. Plays Nakai developed during this period that have seen outside productions include Cloudberry by Cristina Pekarik, The Fasting Girl by Miche Genest, and A Tree Fell in the Forest by Lawrie Crawford. Adams also began developing relationship with Perseverance Theatre of Juneau, Alaska, the company’s geographically closest neighbour.

In 1999, under Artistic Director Michael Clark, Nakai began a new phase. The company extended the notion of "developmental" theatre work to all theatre artists in a production. Audience development also became a focus. Nakai Theatre broadened its programming to reach a wider audience and raised its production values, moving its main venue to the Yukon Arts Centre. Clark solidified ties with Perseverance Theatre, presenting its work to Yukon audiences.

The Nakai Theatre Arts Comedy Festival brings the best in Canadian Comedy and comic touring theatre to the Yukon each January, building its audience by cultivating a wider interest in live performance. Residencies for senior Canadian theatre artists were established for playwrights (Sally Clark, Patti Flather, Mitch Miyagawa) designers (David Skelton), composers (Daniel Janke). The company also began touring more regularly to outlying Yukon communities." (for more on Nakai see Nakai Theatre)