Shakespeare Theatre Company

The once powerful King Lear chooses to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, and so begins one of Shakespeare’s most moving tragedies. At the crucial point of relinquishing his realm, Lear demands to know which of his daughters loves him the most. His ambitious older daughters answer with false praise and lavish flattery, however his youngest daughter, who does truly love him, answers with honesty. Wildly unsatisfied with her response, Lear’s rage sets in motion catastrophic consequences. Ultimately stripped of his privilege and its trappings, Lear must reckon with his own humanity.

Written at the height of Shakespeare’s creativity, Othello explores the tragedy of a love destroyed by jealousy. Provoked by the treacherous Iago’s lies, Othello begins to mistrust his loyal bride, Desdemona. As his suspicions rise, Othello collapses under the weight of his self-doubt, eventually destroying his once-happy marriage. With poetry rivaling King Lear and with the psychological depth of Hamlet, Shakespeare constructs a highly charged tale of prejudice, revenge and the destruction of innocence.

Spurred by the devious Iago and believing that his beloved Desdemona has betrayed him, Othello destroys his own happy world. Accomplished film, television, and stage actor Patrick Stewart plays Othello joined by a Black cast, including Franchelle Stewart Dorn as Emilia. This bold, new look at the play highlights one of its major themes of “otherness.”

Dubbed “The villain of Broadway” by Playbill, Tony Award® Nominee and Grammy Award® Winner Patrick Page has never shied away from exploring his dark side. Now, with this tour de force show, he turns his attention to the twisted motivation and hidden humanity at the heart of Shakespeare’s greatest villains. Moving swiftly through the Shakespeare canon, Page illuminates the playwright's ever-evolving conception of evil by delving into more than a dozen of his most wicked creations. Thrilling, biting, hilarious, and enlightening, what Page delivers is a masterclass on the most terrifying subject of them all: human nature.

When Roman General Titus returns from his victorious campaign against the Goths, he sacrifices one of the Goth princes in retaliation, setting in motion a horrific cycle. Amid the violence, Shakespeare provides scenes of deep humanity, depicting the anguish and loss felt by Titus, the Goths’ Queen Tamora, and their families, illustrating the futility and costliness of revenge. Produced by the Shakespeare Theatre Company for the 2007 Shakespeare in Washington Festival and recorded by WAPAVA.

Caught in a carousel of memory, the head of a dysfunctional royal family grapples with power-hungry children and the threat of losing the empire he created. Real and imagined worlds coalesce, creating a political and personal horror that threatens to swallow the mind of the monarch.