Will Holcomb

Shakespeare Rocks was written to introduce youth to Shakespeare in a fun way. It was first performed by the youth troupe of Bastrop Opera House and performed at TNT Youth Conference in Odessa Texas at The Globe Theater.

What made this work especially interesting was the mixing of live performance with video. The story is of a boy who begrudgingly has to write a report about Shakespeare. Every time he starts to read he falls asleep and dreams of Shakespeare writing his plays. The part of the boy and Shakespeare was filmed in a green screen, which was a great experience for the young actors. Once Shakespeare starts writing in the dream sequence, the actors come out to perform as he writes and interact with the video. The youth perform sections of, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, As You Like It, The Tempest ,and  A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

If you are interested in reading the script or rights to produce this performance, please reach out through the contact page. The videos will be included with the rights to perform the show.

This is the raw footage of the Odessa performance. Below are two of the first two clips of the video part. Watch the first few minutes of this performance before you watch the clips. The clips won’t make sense without the being part of the performance.

Clip #1:

Clip #2: