Chicago Shakespeare, Q Brothers join London 2012 Cultural Olympiad

The Q Brothers

Photo: courtesy of Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the Q Brothers, authors of The Bomb-itty of Errors and Funk It Up About Nothin', have been invited by Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to take part in London's 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Under the "Globe to Globe" initiative, Shakespeare's Globe will present international takes on each of Shakespeare's 37 plays, rendered in 37 different languages, over a six-week period beginning April 23, 2012. American hip-hop is the "language" represented by the Q Brothers' new adaptation, Othello: A Remix.

Chicago Shakes is the only American company invited to take part in "Globe to Globe," and the only presentation in English other than the Globe's own Henry V. Other participants listed in CST's announcement today include:

the National Theatre of China’s Richard III; Belarus Free Theatre’s King Lear; from Bangladesh, Dhaka Theatre’s The Tempest; Compañia Nacional de Teatro Mexico’s Henry IV: Part 1; a Zulu presentation of Venus & Adonis from South Africa’s Isango Theatre; the National Theatre of Greece’s Pericles; The South Sudan Theatre Company’s Cymbeline; and from Kyoto, Japan, Chiten’s Coriolanus.

Othello: A Remix will rehearse in Chicago in advance of its May 5 London debut, but as the Olympiad deal requires the show be a world premiere, any plans for public performances here will have to wait.