Thu 7/27-Sun 8/13 @ 7:30PM
The Akron-based Ohio Shakespeare Festival performs its summer shows outdoors in the lovely setting of Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, adding some natural enchantment to the plays. It returned there this season with two appropriately summery productions, both romantic comedies. With its run of Love’s Labour’s Lost concluded, it presents its second show, Twelfth Night, starting this weekend.
You might want to catch it now, because it might soon be banned in Ohio. In it, a young woman disguises herself as a man following a shipwreck and among other things, attracts the romantic attention of a noblewoman while herself falling for the dashing count she’s working for. A Welsh university is already tagging it with a warning for disturbing content and allowing students to talk out on lectures if they feel unsettled. But the Ohio legislature is mulling over following in the footsteps of states such as Tennessee, prohibiting entertainment in which women dress as men or vice versa, especially for those under 18.
So go and take the kids! They’ll enjoy the setting and probably be more entertained by the play than most of us are by the antics in the statehouse in Columbus. Gates open at 6pm for picnicking so make it a fun evening out.
Get your tickets here. Pay what you want performance takes place July 30.
Akron, OH 44313