Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing

What I've noticed about "Nightmare on 13th" is that they have a huge line of people waiting outside the Haunted House. While the people are waiting, there are scary characters haunting the people in the line as a little taste of what's going to happen inside.

What I've thought of doing is using a scene from "Much Ado About Nothing". The scene is when a bunch of the characters are waring masks at a party. I want to reenact this scene by having the masked characters freakout the people that are waiting in line. They will obviously be at the entrance of the SUU Auditorium doing what they do best. "Art thou afeared?"

A Midsummer Nightmare: I Am Feared in Field and Town(????)

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Yes, there was no typo... you read it right! "A Midsummer NIGHTMARE!" A spin off from the play A Midsummer Night's Dream. My friend Cody Mercer and I thought of the name title. It's a good play on words... as well as Shakesfeare was. I was thinking of also naming it "A Midsummer Night of the Living Dead" and have it be themed based on making all the characters Walkers, but for the sake of flourished popularity and limited imagination, I have decided to keep the word "Nightmare" in its rightful place. The reason being is so that it can be any type of nightmare that will literally make our imaginations go wild!

In this play there are a lot of fairies, elves, pixies, etc... etc... What I've decided to do is make each folklore-like character as scary as humanly possible. They will have sharp pointed ears, the same goes for their teeth. They will have eye contacts of various kinds with a bone-chilling feel with their creepy glances. Their hair, as well as their costumes, will depend on the character's. I want to have about 7-10 of these characters. Their purposes will be scaring the tour guides by jumping out randomly from their dark places.

Puck is a well-known character in the play. He is described as being a mischievous "Robin Goodfellow". Now the word "Robin" can also mean Hobgoblin in ancient folklore. If you know anything about Spider-Man's enemy The Hobgoblin, he is not all "fun and friendly" but rather a "fiendish foe". I want to base Puck as the Hobgoblin, so that he can not only keep his mischievous role, but add on to it with his gruesome appearance.

Another well-known character from the play is Nick Bottom. I find it ironic that his last name is a foreshadow of what he will become... which is an ass. Yes, it is a play on words, and I think Shakespeare intentionally did that for that reason.
Anyway, in the play, Bottom get's his head turned into a donkey by "Robin Goodfellow" himself. This is a bit of a stretch, but it kinda reminded me of Wolfman's transformation. I want to have 4 versions of Bottom.

The first one will be just a normal human that is a tour guide with other characters from the play, who will lead the group until Puck throws pixy dust on Bottom. He will begin the transformation by making donkey sounds and disappear in the darkness.
The second and third one will come out of the darkness(in different times and loactions) looking like they are slowly turning into a donkey.
The fourth one will have the complete donkey head. The other tour guides will be scared and run away, taking their group with them.
The tour guide Tom Snout will say, "Bottom thou art changed! What do I see on thee?"
Tour guide Peter Quince will say, "Bless me! Thou art translated!"
As the guides are running away Bottom says, "Why do they run away? I see their knavery. This is to make an ass of me."
With this scene, it will not only be scary but also a comic relief for when the tour group leaves the SUU auditorium.

Richard III: Bloody Thou Art, Bloody Shall Be Thy End (2013)

Richard III

I recently finished watching Richard III on Youtube. I was afraid that it was going to be a boring story about the reign of the king, but there was a scene in the play that caught my interest.

In one of the scenes, Richard III has a dream that the people, that he has killed or ordered to be killed, are back as ghosts, haunting him and always repeating; "Despair and die!" But at the same time, the ghosts are rejoicing for The Earl of Richmond's future victory. The Earl is an enemy to Richard III.

I would like to make Richard III a tour guide. Since Richard III is known for his phrase "A horse a horse! My kingdom for a horse!" Obviously we can't have a horse in the building, but how about having a random guy with coconuts? Yes, it is a spin off from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", but people will get it and have some comic relief during the scary parts in the auditorium.
Richard III is a cunning individual that has charm with his speech, and walks with a limp due to the hump on his back. At the beginning of the tour, he will get people to trust him as their king... or tour guide in this case. As he leads the group he slowly gets paranoid as his "past" catches up with him. Each dark corner and hiding place, a ghost will appear repeating, "Despair and die!" I counted about 11 people were killed by Richard's hand, so it will kinda be like from the movie "Thier13en Ghosts". It's a stretch, but I think "Thir13en Ghosts" was inspired by "Richard III"!

 As each individual ghost group into one horde, they try to gang up on Richard III, making him grow mad with rage. Richard III leaves the group panicking and looses his "horse". He then meets up with The Earl of Richmond to fight in mortal combat. Richard III is slain in the dual.
At the end I want the ghosts to drag Richard III's body into the darkness, leaving behind a bloody trail.

"Bloody thou art; bloody will be thy end!"

Zombie Shakespeare

 

After watching a Tree House of Horrors episode from The Simpsons, I noticed that there was a scene where Homer beats up a Zombie Shakespeare and says, "Shows over Shakespeare!" I decided to take from this scene, and make a Zombie Shakespeare as the greeter at the door before the groups are taken inside the theartre.

With that idea fresh in my mind, I decided to make my own version of what I think the Zombie Shakespeare would look like.

 

This is Andrew Morrison as The Zombie Shakespeare!

How Shakesfeare Got Started

I would first like to explain how this idea for an event for Cedar City came to be. I was a custodian for the Shakespeare theatres, and some friends and I noticed how scary it is when working there at nights.

We later thought of making it into a haunted theatre, like the Phantom of the Opera, but we wanted to do something that was more original. We later thought of calling it "Shakesfeare" and the idea of having scary characters from Shakespeare tragedies haunt the people of Cedar City came into effect.

When we got started with the name, I began to think that this idea is too good, somebody must’ve thought of it first. I began to search the web using Google and found very few results that associated with the name “Shakesfeare.” I found a metal band under the same name. I found events, but they were parties with costume contests. I even found a definition for it, but it was a term for people that were afraid of understanding Shakespeare plays. When I realized that I couldn’t find anything regarding a haunted theatre, I decided to jump on it and make it happen.

 This idea fits perfectly with Cedar City being known as Festival City, USA, and The Shakespeare season normally ends before Halloween.

With this event, the main purpose will be to give people a small taste of what Shakespeare is like for people that have never been to a play, or even heard of Shakespeare. What better way to share the excitement of Shakespeare, than here in Cedar City, the host of the Award Winning Utah Shakespeare Festival. This will be a great promotion to help people come to the Shakespeare plays more. Shakesfeare, as a form of the seasonal Halloween entertainment, is a way to introduce and familiarize an audience with the horror/thriller aspect of Shakespeare plays.

Since Shakespeare normally ends before Halloween, it is perfect timing to have that seasonal theme correspond with the Shakespeare plays.

With this event, we’re hoping for a great turnout, so that we can get it started annually. The best part will be to have “Shakesfeare” theme based on the plays that are showing or will show for the following year. That way each year of “Shakesfeare” will be different with a new play or a new character to add on to the horror genre.

Romeo & Juliet: A Plague O' Both Your Houses (????)

Rome & Juliet

Romeo & Juliet:

This idea was a bit difficult. I didn't want to focus on the suicidal tragedy regarding Romeo and Juliet. My friend Eric Ripley suggested that they could be Zombies. I played with this idea for a bit, then after contemplating what Eric said, it made sense. In the original play it had Juliet appear "mostly dead", but to Romeo she wasn't even "slightly alive". Romeo then killed himself soon after Juliet awoke from her deep slumber. She realizes her true love is dead, and decides to end her own life as well.

Now here is Eric Ripley and my horrifying twisted version of what will happen with this ending. Juliet will be presumed dead lying in her death bed, with her head turned away from Romeo. Romeo will come to the foot of her bed and mourn for her. Right when Romeo will attempt to kill himself with a dagger, Juliet opens her soul-less eyes, turns her head towards Romeo, revealing a bloody bite mark on her neck, and bites Romeo in the jugular.
 Maybe it will be kinda like the movie "Warm Bodies"

Romeo(Part of the Shakesfeare tour)- He will be in a fight scene with Tybalt after Tybalt kills Mercutio. At the end of the tour, or during the tour, he will go and see Juliet one last time. Romeo is bitten by Juliet, he then runs away from her and tells the tour group to leave.

Juliet(Part of the Shakesfeare tour)- She will be in her bed as if dead, but in reality she is "undead"! She bites Romeo and tries to eat him and whoever gets in her way.
Now I know that this is out of context and a bit of a stretch, but after Juliet bites Romeo I want her to call out for Romeo(as Romeo is running for his life), "Romeo? Wherefore art thou Romeo?" And she'll be saying it in her own creepy way.

Tybalt(Part of the Shakesfeare tour)- He will be in a knife fight with Mercutio first, he then kills Mercutio and runs from Romeo. He is finally killed by Romeo.

Mercutio(Part of the Shakesfeare tour)- He will be fighting Tybalt, but is later slain by him.

The Tempest: Hell is Empty and All the Devils Are Here(2013)

The Tempest:

After reading this play, I thought that it was going to be hard to make a romantic Shakespeare play into something horrifying. But when I read the detailed description of what the creature Caliban was supposed to look like, I thought it would be awesome! So I went from there.
I saw the movie that was made in 2010, and to be honest... it was terrible! Don't see it, go to the play instead. That's what I did over the Christmas break. I went and saw the play up in the SLC area and I enjoyed it.
What I came up with, was having the tour groups split up into two tour guide groups. One group would go to the  Ariel group(which will cover the Romantic side of Shakespeare)and the other would go to the Caliban group(the Tragedy side of Shakespeare). Both groups will go to different parts of the auditorium. This will make it interesting because once one group has gone to their first assigned tour group, they will want to find out what the other tour group has to offer. Making the people want to come back a second time.

Prospero- A Sorcerer  like character that will be at the end of one of the tours. He will summon the Demon Dogs to scare the people in the tour group out of the building.

Arial(Ariel tour guide #6)- Is a wind spirit that will be in and out in the tour. Ariel will be hard to follow in the tour. In the tunnels below the auditorium we will have Ariel's voice echo one of his/her song that will be altered to sound more creepy. Throughout Ariel's tour group, the tour guides will take the groups to the "Romantic Side" of Shakespeare. At the end of Ariel's tour, Ariel will appear as a black harpy scaring the "Ariel Tour Guides".

Ferdinand(Ariel tour guide #1)- He will appear lost and hear Ariel's voice and ask the tour group to follow him. Ferdinand leads the group until he is distracted by Miranda.

Miranda(part of Areil's tour)- Ferdinand's distraction. Self explanatory. She will lead Ferdinand away from the tour group, and the group have to follow the next tour guide.

After Ferdinand leaves the group. The Ariel tour group will follow the listed characters below, the rest of the way to meet Ariel as a harpy.

Alonso(Ariel tour guide #2)
Gonzalo(Ariel tour guide #3)
Sebastian(Ariel tour guide #4)
Antonio(Ariel tour guide #5)

Caliban(Caliban tour guide # 3)- He will look like a mixture of Swamp Thing and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Caliban's tour group will be touring the "Tragedy Side" of Shakespeare. The tour will end with Prospero sending out Demon Dogs to chase the "Caliban Tour Guides".

These are some sketches that I've done for Caliban and what I think he should look like:

Trinculo(Caliban tour guide #1)- He will be leading the group as a dumb drunk, and will end up finding Caliban after hearing a thunder storm closing in. He uses Caliban as shelter.

Stephano(Caliban tour guide #2)- Will soon after join Trinculo and Caliban to lead the rest of the tour to the end.

Demon Dogs-We will have about 3, and they will be driving the Caliban tour group out of the building.

Macbeth: Something Wicked This Way Comes (2012)

Macbeth 

Macbeth:

Lady Macbeth- She has her hands stained with blood(in her mind... and the tour group's as well). As the tour group is passing her by, Lady Macbeth is sleep walking and trying to wash her hands off from the blood that she thinks she has spilled.

The Witches- We had three witches crawling around out of dark places giving the groups an eerie feel.

Titus Andronicus: I Shall Grind Your Bones to Dust... (2012)

Titus Andronicus

 

Titus Andronicus:

Titus Andronicus- Is a mixture of Sweeney Todd and Hannibal Lector. He scares the people in the group by threatening to cook them just like he did to Chiran & Demetrius. Would you like [pies] with that?;)

Chiron & Demetrius- They tortured Lavinia by cutting her hands and her tongue out. They then mock her, because "She hath no tongue to call nor hands to wash..."

Lavinia- Is a combination between The Ring Girl and The Grudge Girl. She tries to get the attention of the people in the group by grabbing them with her stumps or trying to speak(she obviously can't).

This is the Shakesfeare Lavinia.
"Cat got your tongue Lavinia?"
"Look ma' no hands... no tongue too!"

Hamlet: There is Something Rotten in the State of Denmark (2012)

Hamlet

Hamlet:

Hamlet- is a Serial Killer that kills the tour guides. This actually helped out in rotating the tour guides, so that once the tour guide is killed, that person goes back to start another group for the tour.

Ophelia- Is part of the tour. She recites the "Flower Sonnet" and creeps people out by offering a flower to them. She is also suicidal.
"Why don't you take a bath Ophelia, and in the meantime... drown your sorrow."

Gertrude(tour guide)- She starts leading the group into the theatre to see the Shakespeare characters. She later gets poisoned and passes the tour guide responsibilities to Laertes and Horatio.

Laertes(tour guide)- Has a fight scene with Hamlet close to the end of the tour, but is eventually killed by Hamlet leaving Hamlet with a poisoned wound that makes him weak.

Horatio(tour guide)- Is the last tour guide that leads the group to the end of the line

What is Shakesfeare?

1- It is a haunted theatre that has scary characters from Shakespeare plays haunting the SUU Auditorium.
2- One of purposes is to give people a small taste of what Shakespeare is like for people that have never been to a play, or even heard of Shakespeare. What better way to share the excitement of Shakespeare, than here in Cedar City, the host of the Award Winning Utah Shakespeare Festival. This will be a great promotion to help people come to the Shakespeare plays more. Shakesfeare, as a form of the seasonal Halloween entrainment, it is a way to introduce and familiarize an audience with the horror/thriller aspect of Shakespeare plays.