Arkangel Productions

Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited. "The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the "story" of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare's language intact. Specific stage directions...

Shakespeare's play depicting the waning years of both a king and a thief-and a young heir's changing relationship with each of them. Prince Hal has proven his worth on the battlefield, but even as the elder Henry's condition grows weaker, Hal's ability to follow in his father's footsteps may be in doubt. His longtime friendship with the drunken, thieving, yet thoroughly alluring Falstaff, and the influence of their rowdy tavern companions, are tempting...

"A triumphant Caesar enters Rome after defeating the sons of his old enemy, Pompey. Jealousy and fear over Caesar's reforms reveal a brewing conspiracy to assassinate him. As the plot thickens, Caesar's wife is plagued by terrible nightmares and begs him not to go to the Capitol. But Caesar shrugs off her fears and is accompanied to the Senate by the conspirators thus sealing his fate. Caesar's loyal friends rally to avenge his death and preserve...

Passions unleashed cause much wooing and confusion in the magical woods of Athens. Whether real or induced by magical potions seems to mak little difference, showing that love is far from rational, though those afflicted might feel otherwise. A Midsummer night's dream is a delightful comedy that offers something for everyone. The intertwined love constellations include Hermia and Lysander, who having decided to elope, steal away into the forest. Demetrius,...

The sensitive and poetic Richard II is unscrupulous and weak. When his cousin Henry Bolingbroke returns from banishment and mounts a challenge to his authority, Richard's right to the throne proves of little help to him.

Mark Antony has become the thrall of the fascinating Cleopatra. Affairs of state call him to Rome, but the attractions of the Queen of Egypt prove impossible to resist.