Download 4 ACTORS, 4 BICYCLES, 40 CHARACTERS AND A 926 MILE

4 ACTORS, 4 BICYCLES, 40 CHARACTERS AND A 926 MILE ADVENTURE
Prepare yourself for a high-octane summer of cunning schemes, love
sickness and cross-dressing, courtesy of innovative theatre company
Peculius. From the 2nd of July to the 23rd of August The HandleBards, their
four-strong, all-male troupe of travelling players, will be pedaling from
Glasgow to London as a World First project - a cycling tour of two of
Shakespeare’s greatest plays: Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night.
To add to the challenge, The HandleBards, who are supported by the Old
Vic Theatre, will carry all the required set, props, costumes and camping
equipment necessary for the 926 mile journey on their bikes, with no
back-up vehicle in support. They will cover a distance equivalent to that
between Land’s End and John o’ Groats.
The group will pass through 25 venues across Scotland and England, beginning at the Glasgow Riverside Museum, now the
European Museum of the Year (European Museum Forum Awards 2013), and finishing up at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, which
recently hosted its 100th Chelsea Flower Show. They will also perform at The Dell in Stratford-upon-Avon (the Royal Shakespeare
Company’s outdoor playing space) Bolton and Newark castles and Rufford Old Hall in Lancashire, where Shakespeare himself
performed in 1585.
All set and props used in the productions are restricted only to recycled items that could be found either on a bicycle or in a
campsite, with the team’s bikes being rigged up to power various lights and mechanical contraptions onstage. The use of bicycles as
transport for the escapade will also save 20.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions, as compared to the same adventure undertaken by car.
Shakespeare is truly sustainable in his 1st ever fully ‘green’ tour. The four HandleBards will play multiple characters in each 1930s-set
play, fully engaging showgoers with some unusually energetic audience interaction. Eco-friendly
ABOUT THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
Director James Farrell’s recent directing work includes Twelfth Night
(Royal and Derngate) and Pericles (Royal Shakespeare Company), as
Assistant Director The 39 Steps (Criterion Theatre) and as Staff Director
Olivier Award Winning Goodnight Mister Tom (Phoenix Theatre and
National Tour). Designer Libby Todd’s recent work includes Trojan
Women (Brockley Jack Studio Theatre), The Bacchae (London Tour),
After The End (Battersea Arts Centre) and Shakespeare for Breakfast
(Edinburgh Fringe).
ABOUT PECULIUS
London based Peculius was founded in 2007 and has built a strong
reputation for staging unusual theatre in unusual ways. In 2012 they
won the Patrick Murray Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish
Theatre, adding this to various sell-out laurels gained at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Best New Writing award at the Durham
Drama Festival.
For tickets and full tour schedule please visit:
www.peculius.com
For press enquiries, including interviews and images, please contact:
Callum Cheatle at Peculius
[email protected] / 07733 266 553