Shakespeare Slay Fest: Inaugural Season at Shakespeare Slay Fest

Shakespeare Slay Fest: Inaugural Season Announcement

We know his work still slays. But who’s slaying his work?

Another f**king Shakespeare festival? Yup. Shakespeare sailed through the #metoo movement scot free and no ones talking about it. Sure, he’s been dead for over 400 years and there were bigger fish to fry, but something’s actually rotten in the state of Denmark. So how do you hold a dead man to account? Especially one whose work has nourished our souls with words, words, words for years, years, years? 

Enter the inaugural Shakespeare Slay Fest to expand the conversation beyond the same ‘authentic’ version of Shakespeare you've seen in the park a hundred times. Audiences today want to shout, to hold old man ideas to account, to hear different voices and to see those voices represented onstage. So, three Shakespeare nerds, three performances, three days (so Weird Sisters of us!), and lots of spicy things will be said, at Arts On Site in the East Village, NYC. July 18th & 19th. 

Carla Kissane (she/her), Grant Cartwright (he/him) and Casey Bradley (she/they), (that’s us!) deepdive into Shakespeare and his time to unearth what has been hidden in plain sight to unlock a bold perspective you wouldn’t deliver to a bunch of stuffy subscribers. Our love of the Bard is our superpower and we want to inspire a curiosity, love and relevancy of Shakespeare in 2024.

The Shakespeare Slay Fest presents a triple bill of works that reveal our collective humanity through challenging the cannon and the idea of the man (or woman - gasp!) that resides in the popular, collective and historical consciousness. We aim to make the work accessible for all and are committed to inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility, creating a space of belonging for all audiences and artists. 

NYC keeps getting into bed with the Bard - the ballet is dancing A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Romeo and Juliet, and Othello will open on Broadway this fall -  so here’s our offering. We’re changing the sheets and looking under this bed to reveal, reframe and well, slay.

Ticket Booking, Details & Inquiries | https://www.shakespeareancabaret.com/festival

Arts on Site: 12 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003 | July 18th & 19th | 6:30pm & 8:30pm

Shakespeare Slay Fest: Triple Bill Line-Up

The Dream or Cupid Is a Knavish Lad Thus To Make Poor Females Mad (III.ii) or f*ck Up Bitches - Written by Grant Cartwright after William Shakespeare 

July 18th 6:30pm & 8:30pm

Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons has been abducted from Themyscira at the hands of Thesues who will make her his bride, but she has other plans. Revealing a world of midsummer violence, sex, and misogyny lying under the cover of comedy and seeming anything but a dream, Hippolyta plans her escape proving that the course of true love is not only not smooth, it’s deadly. A staged reading of a reworking of A Midsummer Night’s Dream after William Shakespeare. Welcome to the reckoning.

 Grant is an award-winning actor, narrator, writer and director, with a 20 year career on Australia’s leading stages, international television dramas, feature films, shorts and web series. He has narrated over 170 audiobooks and you'll also recognize his voice if you've listened to a Romance title narrated by Rupert Channing. Grant has twice directed NYC's largest LGBTQIA+ street festival, PrideFest, for NYC Pride, he is the Artistic Director of The Leopold Project and co-Artistic Director of Shakespearean Cabaret. He has put his voice to english language dubbing and his body to motion capture for video games. Grant has written for film and the stage and is a Victorian College of the Arts graduate. grantcartwright.com

Petty Tyrant - Written by Carla Kissane 

July 19th 6:30pm & 8:30pm

Order in the Court! Join 'Carlotta-B-from-1593’ The Ultimate Feminist Shakespearean Contemporary Leading Lady in PETTY TYRANT. An unorthodox trial of the authorship question and extravagant hallucination of Shakespearean proportions. Welcome to an autocratic universe where silence is violence and controlling the narrative is victory. Is Shakespeare a TYRANT? Or is he just… PETTY…You will decide the verdict, and live jazz band ‘The Executioners’ will keep time, proving beyond reasonable doubt that the gatekeepers are guilty and the evidence isn’t stacking up. It’s ‘Judge Judy’ meets ‘The Apprentice’ with Shakespeare and live jazz. Starring ‘Carlotta-B-from-1593’ as Anonymous Chirrullus Battillus; The Original Badass Bitch.

Carla Kissane (she/hers) is an Australian-born, NYC-based actor / singer / audiobook narrator whose passion is solo performance of Shakespearean cabaret. A 2024 NYSCA grantee for solo performance,‘PETTY TYRANT’ is performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2024. Notable productions include Sondheim's ‘Saturday Night’ (Australian Premiere), six shows with the Australian Shakespeare Company, and ‘Motherhood The Musical’ (National Tour). AEA/ SAG-AFTRA. https://www.carlakissane.com / shakespeareancabaret.com.