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No Holds Bard: The Pericles Project
Milwaukee’s theater scene has always been brimming with interesting takes on William Shakespeare’s stories—Optimist Theatre, producer of the decade-old Shakespeare in the Park tradition, is bringing the Bard online with “No Holds Bard.”
Since January, under the name “The Pericles Project,” Optimist Theatre has been recreating Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre in web series format. There will be 16 episodes, released two at a time every other Wednesday, retelling what Optimist Theatre jokingly calls “one of Shakespeare's most meh characters in one of his most so-so plays.”
When Pericles solves a riddle to earn the right to marry Antiochus’ daughter, he realizes that father and daughter are having an incestuous relationship—and it goes downhill from there. The first six episodes are currently available online, each lasting about 10 minutes and adding up roughly to the length of a feature film once all episodes are out.
Audiences can enjoy the content online through livestreaming with a live host segment before, between and after the episodes. Instead of continuing to be broadcast from home, these segments will now be hosted at Turner Hall to welcome guests besides the host, Optimist Theatre’s Executive Director Susan Scot Fry.
The first live stream segment at Turner Hall begins Wednesday, Feb. 24, at 7:30 p.m.
For more information, visit noholdsbard.org.
