News Release

Note: For artist, bios, photos and more, see end of release.

'Hamlet' to be performed, drama taught
by classically trained actors Nov. 13-19

CHAPEL HILL - One of the world's oldest internationally touring Shakespeare troupes, Actors From the London Stage, will visit classes and perform "Hamlet" Nov. 13-19 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The five-member troupe also will teach classes at Durham Academy and Charles E. Jordan High School in Durham during its UNC residency, presented by Carolina Performing Arts.

The Actors will perform "Hamlet" at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16; 8 p.m. Nov. 17; and 2 p.m. Nov. 18. The shows will be in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre in Carolina's Center for Dramatic Art on Country Club Road.

Tickets, $18 each, are available online at www.carolinaperformingarts.org; by calling (919) 843-3333; or from the Memorial Hall Box Office on Cameron Avenue, open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Tickets for Carolina students are $10.

Classically trained actors in the troupe come from companies including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Each takes on two or three major roles and several minor ones for each production, and each is usually responsible for the whole play - there is no director.

"Actors from the London Stage offers a unique theatrical experience, an entirely actor-centered production of a Shakespearean play," said Dr. Ritchie Kendall, an associate professor of English and assistant dean for honors in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences. "The approach encourages audiences to participate in the imaginative recreation of the Bard's stage world.

"This is minimalist theater with maximum effect: gifted actors using nothing but Shakespeare's words, their own talents and the energy of the audience to make the play live," said Kendall, who is organizing the Actors' workshops for UNC students in a variety of departments and programs.

The London-based troupe, now in its 30th year, is managed in the United States through the University of Notre Dame. The Actors visit 16-20 universities a year and work with students during weeklong residencies that feature workshops, performances, on-stage demonstrations and informal meetings. Their goal is to make exciting Shakespeare available and affordable to American college and university audiences.

For more information, visit www.carolinaperformingarts.org.

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Note: To arrange to cover the Actors' visits to local classrooms, call Carolina Performing Arts at (919) 843-3119 or (919) 966-3834. For artist media kits and downloadable photos, visit www.carolinaperformingarts.org/media.

Carolina Performing Arts contacts: Don Smith, (919) 843-3119, donsmith@email.unc.edu; Jennifer Warner, (919) 966-3834, jenniferwarner@unc.edu.