Rochester Shakespeare Players Archives - CITY Magazine. Arts. Music. Culture.

Heads, they lose

Leah StacyNovember 14, 2016June 16, 2024

The Shakespeare Players of Rochester, through November 19, present “Hamlet”
in repertory with Tom Stoppard’s 1967 play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are
Dead,” which explores
“Hamlet” through the lens of lesser-known characters

Arts & Entertainment

“King Lear”

David RaymondNovember 19, 2014April 16, 2024

Which of Shakespeare’s plays is his greatest? It’s a fatuous question, of course, but if I had to choose, I think “King Lear” would be a front-runner. That may be a reflection of growing older: this play has profound and unsettling things to say about aging, physical and mental decline, selfishness, abuse of power, and […]

Arts & Entertainment

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

David RaymondJuly 2, 2014July 13, 2025

When Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” first printed in 1600, it was already a hit; the title page noted that it had been “sundry times publickely acted” before then. After a 1662 performance, Samuel Pepys described it in his diary as “the most insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw.” But that’s a minority opinion: […]

Arts & Entertainment

THEATER REVIEW: “The Merchant of Venice”

Eric RezsnyakNovember 15, 2011March 7, 2023

It has been a big year for Rochester Community Players’ Shakespeare Players shingle. Large crowds turned out this summer for the annual Shakespeare in the Park production in Highland Bowl (this year it was a very solid production of "Othello"). The Players launched the Rochester Shakespeare Literary Society, a monthly discussion group meant to prepare […]