Envision a floating island designed to nurture your love of language and theatre while lightening your spirit. On Shakespeare at Sea you’ll find yourself exploring the Bard’s genius while relaxing into the rhythm of the tropics.

Here we’ll journey to a place of luminous words, actor artistry, and timeless drama. Lectures on the human experiences reflected in Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, and King Lear will offer you an in-depth sense of the melding of traditional and contemporary sensibilities in today’s Shakespeare. Revel in interactive educational sessions that reveal aspects of Shakespearean craft that keep the Bard alive and vital. Savor exclusive performances by OSF actors.

Come along on Shakespeare at Sea and freshen your appreciation of this classic art and wisdom. Drink in experts’ critical thinking on performance of Shakespeare. Ride balmy breezes with OSF and friends, and rediscover an enduring, and now enriched and re-energized, feeling for all that “Shakespeare” is.

Our Program at a Glance

Saturday, November 3
(7pm)

Bon Voyage Cocktail Party

Pick up our latest Program Guide, allow our illustrious staff to introduce themselves to you, and meet your fellow Shakespeare at Sea attendees. Open bar and hot d’oeuvres served!

Sunday, November 4
(3:30pm–4pm)

Shakespeare in Love Pre-Movie Presentation
Speaker: Barry Kraft

Whet you apetite for the Bard’s works as actor and dramaturg Barry Kraft gives a brief introduction to the irresistable Shakespeare in Love. Mr. Kraft will clue you in on key elements of this film, which won seven Academy Awards. Whether you picture the Muse as Paltrow, Dench, or Fiennes, you’ll enjoy this romantic look at inspiration and vision.

Sunday, November 4
(4:15pm–6:15pm)

Shakespeare in Love Movie Showing
Hosted by: Barry Kraft

Sunday, November 4
(6:15pm–6:30pm)

Shakespeare in Love Post-Movie Discussion
Hosted by: Barry Kraft

Monday, November 5
(9am–10am)

Elizabethan Violence in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Speaker: Christopher DuVal

Explore the cultural, social, and political aspects of Elizabethan violence and how the martial arts of Renaissance Europe influenced Shakespeare’s plays.

Monday, November 5
(10:30am–Noon)

Works that Capture the Human Experience:
Romeo and Juliet
Speaker: Barry Kraft

Dive deep. Re-engage with the complex feelings Shakespeare has embodied in this most famous love story. With this first of three lectures, Mr. Kraft begins his exploration of three major Shakespearean themes: revenge, kingship, and family pressures. Mr. Kraft has selected this early tragedy, written in 1595, as his starting point to highlight the evolution of these themes as Shakespeare’s work and leading actors mature.

Monday, November 5
(1:30pm–2:30pm)

Panel Discussion
Moderator: Kimberley Jean Barry

Join Christopher DuVal, Michael Elich, Barry Kraft, and Robin Goodrin Nordli for an informal conversation about their work in the theatre.

Monday, November 5
(3:45pm–4pm)

Romeo and Juliet Pre-Movie Presentation
Speaker: Barry Kraft

Wrapped in lush settings and period splendor, Zefferelli’s Romeo and Juliet asks us to reflect on the effect of passion on “logical decision making” and the tragic space between “no turning back” and “no way forward.” Barry Kraft’s insights will illuminate Shakespeare’s messages within this film.

Monday, November 5
(4:15pm–6:30pm)

Romeo and Juliet Movie Showing
Hosted by: Barry Kraft

Monday, November 5
(6:30pm–6:45pm)

Romeo and Juliet Post-Movie Discussion
Hosted by: Barry Kraft

Tuesday, November 6
(8:30am–10am)

What Shakespeare Tells the Actor/Active Reader
Speaker: Robin Williams

Shakespeare wrote directions for the actors directly into the text through such techniques as the forms of address, verse vs. prose, rhyme, shared lines, short lines, soliloquies, and more. Understanding these techniques helps actors and active readers more thoroughly understand the dynamics and emotional states of the characters.

Tuesday, November 6
(10:30am–11:30am)

OSF: The First Sixty Years
Speaker: Kimberley Jean Barry

Take a lively walk through history, beginning with founder Angus Bowmer’s Irish grandmother. We’ll highlight special events like the Festival’s earliest tours in the 1930’s and remember the OSF involvement of such luminaries as Charles Laughton and Duke Ellington. Where did Angus Bowmer get his inspiration for founding the Festival? Find out the OSF backstory, the hopes and challenges OSF faced in each decade, and much more. Kimberley Jean Barry, company member since 1979, shares her insider’s knowledge.

Thursday, November 8
(8:30am–9:30am)

Exploring Set and Production Design
Speaker: Suzie DuVal

What inspires the designers’ creative process? What factors influence the designers’ choices? These questions plus an array of sketches, renderings, fabric samples, photos from previous productions, and fascinating details uncovered in research stimulate an interactive exploration of turning the words of the script into a production onstage.

Thursday, November 8
(10am–11:30am)

Works that Capture the Human Experience: Hamlet
Speaker: Barry Kraft

Freshen your appreciation of Shakespeare’s most famous work. In his second lecture, Mr. Kraft conveys how Shakespeare, mid career, five years after writing Romeo and Juliet, returns to the genre of tragedy and the themes of revenge, kingship, and kinship from the point of view of Hamlet, the enigmatic Prince of Denmark.

Thursday, November 8
(1pm–1:15pm)

Hamlet Pre-Movie Presentation
Speaker: Barry Kraft

You’ll come to understand the challenges a director undertakes to translate a “complete text” of this major Shakespearean tragedy to film.

Thursday, November 8
(1:15pm–5:15pm)

Hamlet Movie Showing
Hosted by: Barry Kraft

Thursday, November 8
(5:15pm–5:45pm)

Hamlet: Post-Movie Discussion
Speaker: Barry Kraft

Thursday, November 8
(6:30pm–7:30pm)

Inspired by Shakespeare
Actors: Chris DuVal and Michael Elich
Production Stage Manager: Kimberley Jean Barry

OSF actors debut a new work, drawn from Shakespeare’s canon, created in your honor for this voyage.

Saturday, November 10
(4:30pm–5:45pm)

The Ultimate Shakespeare Quiz Show
Hosted by: Robin Williams

Whatever it takes — flashcards, iPod files, Cliff Notes — brush up on your Shakespeare trivia (ahem, knowledge). With Robin Williams guiding the competition, go mano-a-mano with fellow Shakespeare buffs in pursuit of the championship of the Ultimate Shakespeare quiz show and fabulous prizes. A subtle blend of scholastic skill and balderdash of which the Bard would surely approve!

Saturday, November 10
(6pm–7pm)

Bard Babes I Have Known or
How to Play a Female Shakespearean Character
Actors: Christopher DuVal and Robin Goodrin Nordli
Production Stage Manager: Kimberley Jean Barry

In this one-of-a-kind revue, acclaimed Shakespearean actress Robin Goodrin Nordli draws on her experiences of having performed in 47 productions of 28 different plays by William Shakespeare. Ms. Nordli gives you a humorous, touching, and informative look into the pleasures and pitfalls of playing the female side of the Bard’s canon. With a deft comic touch, she demonstrates everything from the arts of Swooning and Pleading to the secrets of portraying insane women and cross-dressing heroines.

Sunday, November 11
(8:30am–10am)

Correspondences: Hidden Symbology in
Shakespeare’s Plays
Speaker: Robin Williams

When Shakespeare names trees, stones, animals, weeds, flowers, mythological characters, and historical figures he is keenly aware of the underlying significance and symbolism (the “correspondences”) of each object and uses them to inform the play. We’ll look beneath the surface of the text and explore the substructure of these references. Knowing these correspondences you’ll see into the plays more clearly, gain a greater depth of understanding, and even unravel some mysterious questions!

Sunday, November 11
(10:30am–Noon)

An Insider’s Guide to the 2008 Season
Speaker: Kimberley Jean Barry

Bill Rauch begins his service as OSF’s new Artistic Director with the 2008 season. Kimberley Jean Barrry gives you the scoop on the plays selected for the upcoming 2008 season.

Sunday, November 11
(1:30pm–3pm)

The Ultimate Shakespeare Quiz Show:
Final Matchup
Hosted by: Robin Williams

Sunday, November 11
(3:30pm–5pm)

The Elizabethan Stage and How it Affects the Play
Speaker: Robin Williams

The Elizabethan stage and its conventions are very different from our proscenium-arch stage today. Shakespeare takes advantage of his stage — the discovery space, a balcony, a trap door, a painted ceiling, few props, no scenery changes, and no Fourth Wall. We’ll look at the text and see where and how Shakespeare used these conventions and how they impact us. We’ll also explore the Elizabethan philosophies that are intrinsic to the plays — the Great Chain of Being and the Wheel of Fortune — and what they tell the reader/audience.

Sunday, November 11
(5:30pm–6:30pm)

Reflections on Shakespeare
Actors: Christopher DuVal, Michael Elich, and
Robin Goodrin Nordli
Production Stage Manager: Kimberley Jean Barry

Savor an exclusive performance by OSF actors as they celebrate Shakespeare’s intuitive feel for words and the human spirit.

Monday, November 12
(8:30am–9:30am)

The Language, the Rhetoric, the Poetry
Speaker: Robin Williams

Shakespeare was a sophisticated user of rhetorical devices and poetic techniques to make us react in predictable ways. Gain a deeper appreciation of the language in the Bard’s plays by examining his masterful use of figurative writing.

Monday, November 12
(10am–11:30am)

Works that Capture the Human Experience:
King Lear
Speaker: Barry Kraft

Mr. Kraft navigates King Lear’s deep waters, aided by the visceral and intellectual experience drawn from seven productions of King Lear, twice playing the title role. In this final lecture, Kraft presents how Shakespreare, writing this late tragedy in 1605, captures the paradox of human aging and the transfer of power, voiced by a king in his latter years.

Monday, November 12
(1:30pm–2:30pm)

Exchanging Insults
Speakers: OSF Professionals

Explore insults and curses from Shakespeare’s plays and choose an insult as your inspiration to create a character through a series of writing prompts.

Monday, November 12
(3pm–3:20pm)

King Lear Pre-Movie Presentation
Speaker: Barry Kraft

We’ll watch Ian Holm’s King Lear, sure to inspire. Barry Kraft will guide you through the inner workings of Lear’s travels from complex tyrant to simple humanity.

Monday, November 12
(3:30pm–6pm)

King Lear Movie Showing
Hosted by: Barry Kraft

Monday, November 12
(6pm–6:15pm)

King Lear Post-Movie Discussion
Hosted by: Barry Kraft