Appearing at Shakespeare's Globe next month!
Look out, London!I am quite excited to announce that I will be doing a talk the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, UK next month. I am the first speaker in their SHAKESPEARE: INSPIRED series of talks in the brand-new Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, a new candle-lit theatre that replicates what the first inside theatre were like in Shakespeare's time.It will be one-hour talk about the process behind the creation of Kill Shakespeare, the Bard in comics, inspirations, and everything else. It'll be different than any other presentation I've done for a number of reasons, two being that IT'S THE FREAKIN' GLOBE THEATRE(!) and also I won't have the safety net of a PowerPoint presentation behind me. That's right, I'm going rogue for this talk! Who knows what will happen? Anything could happen!The exact details of my talk are:Thursday, May 21st @ 7pm @ Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.Tickets are 15 GBP, 12 GBP for students - available hereOfficial Link hereThere will be book signings afterwards. 
In addition to the Shakespeare's Globe talk, I will also be appearing at the MCM London Comic-Con from May 22 - 24th. It's a show I've attended three times in the last few years and I'm excited to return. I'll post more information about this in the coming weeks.
Our New York debut is tonight!
For those that have missed it, our New York stage show debut occurs tonight! Gideon Productions is mounting our Kill Shakespeare: Live Graphic Novel at HERE for five nights beginning this evening. More about the event and tickets can be found here.
Break a leg, everyone! Lookin' forward to hearing how it went!
Tickets available for Kill Shakespeare in New York!
I posted two weeks ago that Kill Shakespeare: Live Graphic Novel will be performed in New York in March of this year (March 1-5) and tickets are now on sale! If you'd like to purchase tickets (going for $15), you can do so at this link.And the official press release is here.
If you're in New York - go check out the show! It's an amazing cast and production company that really, really love the production. I may try to head down there myself to check it out too...
The Kill Shakespeare Stage Show Is Going to New York!
Last year our KILL SHAKESPEARE: LIVE GRAPHIC NOVEL played in a number of cities (and internationally in Dubai) so we figured that it would be tough to top that year in terms of shows and performances. Well, 2014 is getting off to a great start for the show as it will be making its official New York City debut in March of this year!The creative Gideon Productions will be putting on the stage show for five performances from March 1 - 5th as part of the HERE: Coop's Sublet Series. The production will be directed by artistic director Jordana Williams (one of NYTheatre.com's 2012 People of the Year) and feature a great cast of equity and non-equity actors.
Yes, you may recall that Gideon put on the production at the 2012 New York Comic-Con but that was an abridged version of the tale. This will be a full production and, knowing the cast and crew, one that will really make the visuals and story fly.Tickets are not available for sale yet but once they are we will keep you updated.
The Stage Show Returns Next Month!
It was just announced earlier this week that on Friday, November 22nd our KILL SHAKESPEARE: LIVE GRAPHIC NOVEL stage show will be put on in Kitchener, Canada. The opening night celebration of the G33K Art Show, the show will be directed and produced by the multi-talented Miroki Tong. From what Miroki's told us it's going to be an interpretation of the graphic novel like no others before it - it's going to involve some circus arts, illustrations and potentially some animation. Should be great!I will also be attendance at the opening night show (Conor will be attending the Miami Book Fair that weekend) and will also be appearing at the show on Saturday, November 23rd to sell/sign books and tshirts as well as conduct a Pitching and Marketing workshop for attendees.
If you live in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge-Guelph area and have not had an opportunity to see our show, please come out and check it out. It'll be great to again visit the K-Dub area, at which Conor, myself and artist Andy Belanger spent a good amount of time (Conor and I for university, Andy for his youth and high school years).You can purchase tickets by clicking on the poster.
See Kill Shakespeare in Dubai this weekend!
Another dispatch from Cairo...Backstage Dubai is presenting Kill Shakespeare: Live Graphic Novel this weekend starting tonight! The shows are being held at The Fridge, and showtimes are:Fri, Apr 11/13 - 8pmSat, Apr 12/13 - 8pmSun, Apr 13/13 - 8pm
For more information check out this link.
Conor on stage with Neil Gaiman (Video)
As mentioned last weekend I had an amazing time out in Orlando where I got to be part of the International Association for the Fantastic Arts' annual conference.One of the real treats was getting to be IN a play with Neil Gaiman. The play was called "The Sum of Your Experience" and the lovely dirtectrix, Carrie J. Cole, sent me a link to a video of the show.Bill Clementine, a noble IAFA member, shot the video and edited it for this clip and the narration is provided by Brett Cox.(And if you don't know which one is me and which one is Mr. Gaiman? I'm the handsome one - GRIN)We did this after just one hour of rehearsal - so I think it's pretty amazing we didn't screw up too many lines (I combined two lines once but Neil covered like a champ -- see if you can spot my screw-up).Enjoy!
Kill Shakespeare goes to school -- in Dubai!
With all the cons going on sometimes it gets tough to look ahead at what's coming next so it was nice to find an e-mail in our in-boxes from Melanie Guidera who is part of the Backstage Dubai team helps Ben Caddy and the rest of the MEFCC team with education programs at the Con as well as teaches English and Film at the Emirates International School - Meadows.Melanie sent us some great pictures from the school of Backstage Dubai's team of actors running a shortened version of the Kill Shakespeare reading they will be performing at the Middle East Film and Comic Con.The kids at the Emirates International School- Meadows seemed pretty taken with the performance and we hope to see many of them at the show -- and then maybe again when Backstage puts Kill Shakespeare on for a two-week run in the Emirate.
Dream a little Dream with Neil.
Every once in awhile in the course of promoting Kill Shakespeare opportunities come by that see us starstruck. This past weekend was just such an occasion.While Anthony started the weekend holding down the fort in Rochester Minnesota (and rubbing shoulders with comci superstars like Bill Willingham), I was in Orlando after being invited to the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts.The IAFA is an academic conference that focuses on sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Attending the conference is like going to the very smartest corner of a ComicCon, except with a swim-up bar, and no furries.The 34th edition of the conference had five papers on The Walking Dead, two on semi-obscure Swedish Vampire flick Let the Right One In and a paper entitled Do Linguists Dream of Electric Sheep? A Study of Constructed Languages in Speculative Fiction.I even sat in on one paper that linked changing Renaissance Fairs to Stephen Colbert's notion of "truthiness" and what it called a growing problem in American Politics of ignoring what is true for what we want to be true (as always, blame the trolls people).So, for a geek like me this was heaven.But I was talking about being starstruck, and while being around so many smart interesting people was dizzying enough what REALLY made me need the shades was the chance to rub elbows not once, but twice, with a certain gentleman named...... Neil Gaiman.Yeah, him.As part of the deal the IAFA offered us they said they'd pay for a night in a hotel and make sure that whichever of us came down would sit on a panel with Neil and other scholars and talk about adaptations of Shakespeare.(the fact I got to go to this one explains why Anthony is currently sunning himself in SoCal while I hang out in lovely, but much colder, Toronto.)But if that wasn't enough the amazingly talented Carrie Cole, who helped put together the Kill Shakespeare stageshow when it was in Arizona had a surprise in store for me.You see every year at the IAFA they perform three, one-act plays that were chosen as winners of a competition. This year Carrie was directing them, and knowing what a ham-bone I am she asked if I would be willing to be in one of the plays. I agreed, but because the play would be a day after I was scheduled to go to FablesCon from Orlando I was ready to beg off."Oh, but don't you want to know who will be acting opposite you in the play?" she asked."Wellll, I guess....""It might be someone named... Neil Gaiman."So, about 45 minutes later I had my plane changed and was staying an extra day in Orlando which is how I ended up on stage on Friday night looking at one of the greatest writers of our time as he pulled a gun on me.The play was a taut two-hander called The Sum of Your Experience and was written Trace Crawford. It involves the strange case of a man who gets robbed and the mugger who steals all his stories.Appropriately Neil got to be the tale thief while I was the sorry son-of-a-gun who loses everything -- including the memories of his children.While I didn't get a great chance to hang-out with Neil afterwards (he had been on his feet for three straight days) I was able to chat a little bit and passed on a couple of Kill Shakespeare t-shirts to him and his wife Amanda. He was as gracious and polite as everyone said he would be and is one of the smartest people I've ever meant.Below are a few pictures from Orlando (and there may be one or two of a certain comics genius).
Kill Shakespeare hits the stage in Seattle tonight!
Today is the day Seattle!The Kill Shakespeare Dramatic Reading starts its two night run this evening at 8 PM at the Balagan Theatre (1524 Harvard Ave)Tickets are available through the Balagan website and as a special gift to fans of Kill Shakespeare you can use the code 'ECCC' to get a $5 discount.Or, if you were at Emerald City Comic Con, you can use your badge, or the yellow flyer we were handing out at the booth, to get your discount as well.Enjoy the show, and let us know what you think!Conor
Kill Shakespeare heads to Emerald City!
This weekend the intrepid duo of Kill Shakespeare will be forced to split up.Anthony stays in Toronto to oversee our big gallery show at the Comic Book Lounge (587A College St.) on Saturday evening, which if you are in Toronto you REALLY need to go to, while I head out to the left coast to hit Emerald City Comic Con.I've never been to the Seattle show but am excited for many reasons:
1) Show founder Jim Demonakos is an amazing guy AND married to the lovely Canadian comics fanatic Andrea Demonakos (nee Ball)! So any chance to see their smiling faces is one you HAVE to take.2) Jim, and Kyle Stevens, the dynamic duo behind the awesome Nerd Rock band, Kirby Krackle, will be performing on their home turf as part of Kracklefest 3!
3) The Kill Shakespeare Dramatic Reading is going to hit the ECCC stage on Saturday at 5 P.M. I can't WAIT to see what the amazing people at Balagan Theatre will do with our baby when it hits hall 2ABand4) I get to host two different panels. One on writing at 3 PM on Friday in room #401 the other is on the business of creation on Sunday at 5 PM, also in room #401So if you are attending Emerald City please swing by artist alley, table J-02, to say 'hello' and pick up your copy of Tide of Blood Issue #1!Hugs, Conor
Sneak Peek: Cast photo for Kill Shakespeare in Dubai
We're on quite a theatrical run here of late, eh?This morning Anthony and I were treated to a lovely surprise when Gautam Goenka, the mastermind behind Kill Shakespeare's Dubai stage debut, sent us a photo of a cast rehearsal.
In the photo from L to R are our Iago (Amod Munga), Othello (Eben Thomas), Hamlet (Ahmed Rabieh), Gautam (the director of the piece) and Juliet (Priyanka Johri). I'm definitely digging the fact that almost half the cast are using tablets to run their lines -- it's a digital world now, baby!Unquestionably the Middle East Film & Comic Con is going to be one of the highlights of the year for Anthony and I. Not only do we get to escape the cold Canadian spring for the warmth of Dubai (MEFCC runs April 5th and 6th), and help grow comic culture in the Middle East, we'll also get to see all the great work Gautam and his dedicated team of actors are doing in person.(Even if I will burn like a son-of-a-gun out there in the desert).Ta,Conor
WAY MORE AWESOME: TIME OUT CHICAGO PREVIEWS THE KILL SHAKESPEARE DRAMATIC READING
One of the most exciting and, for me, nerve-wracking projects for Kill Shakespeare in 2013 is the on-going roll-out of the stageshow.It's exciting because the stageshow allows us to reach an entirely different audience and get new people interested in stepping into the Kill Shakespeare world. It's nerve-wracking though for that same reason: new people means new opportunities for misunderstanding the "point" of Kill Shakespeare. We're here to praise the Bard, not to bury him, as those who've attended a convention with us have probably heard us say, but not everyone gets that.Moving to the stage is also a bit intimidating because theatre audiences can have a reputation for… well, let’s put ths kindly, bone-shattering snobbery.
And theatre critics? Oh, man they can be the WORST: with a glass of chardonnay in one hand, a wheel of camembert in the other, and cheekbones that could cut glass, they scare the hell out of me by just SAYING the name Brecht.Add to all THAT, the reality that in about a week the most ambitious undertaking of the dramatic reading EVER attempted is hitting the stage in Chicago, and you can tell why my already poor sleep habits might take a further nose dive.Imagine my relief when Anderson Lawfer, the head-cheese over at Strawdog Theatre, the folks who are going to put Kill Shakespeare on stage for an unprecedented THREE WEEK run, called me to tell me that Time Out Chicago wanted to do an article on the show. It seems like those arbitrers of all that is cool in the Windy City think Kill Shakespeare fits the bill.And indeed they have, and they seem quite excited about the whole thing. Kill Shakespeare: The Dramtic Reading will hit the boards on March 4th and goes until the 26th in Strawdog's cabaret space (the warm-and-fuzzily named Hugen Hall - grab tickets here).
Aside from talking up the show, Time Out goes in-depth aboutAnderson and the rest of the Strawdog team and their penchant for staging some of the most interesting and innovative theatre in the city.I certainly hope that fans of ours in and around Chicago will be able to attend the show -- from what Anderson tells us it is going to be an experience unlike anything else that you have seen.And if Ms. Snooty-critic with the killer cheekbones and the gluten-free diet doesn't like it? Well fine... I'll sleep soundly regardless.(plus, I'd just show her this)Conor
Auditions begin for our LIVE STAGE READING in Dubai!
We are quite proud to know that this April will see the international debut of KILL SHAKESPEARE: LIVE STAGE READING. Backstage Dubai, the largest theatre company in Dubai, will be presenting the production at the 2nd annual Middle East Film & Comic-Con in early-April (April 5 - 6th) and then will play it the following week in the city.
Auditions begin next week for the production so if you know anyone in the area that would be interested in trying out click on the poster for more info.And we look forward to attending the show again this year to catch the show and again meet with fans and comic readers. (And this year we will make sure that we have more than enough books to sell, unlike last year when we were sold out before the show even began...)
Not To Be Missed!
The reviews are rolling in from Halifax for the Kill Shakespeare show and they are GOOD!
First, Kate Watson, of legendary weekly The Coast, gave the production a very strong review saying:I see over a 100 plays a year, and I'm predicting that Kill Shakespeare will stand out as one of the most memorable and entertaining of 2012.She raved about the cast provided by Lion's Den and Vile Passeist and then concluded by saying the show was "not to be missed".To read the full review click here.After that we got another great shout out from The Chronicle Herald. This is Halifax's largest daily newspaper. The Chronicle ended up giving us a feature length review. Not just on the theatre show (which Elissa Barnard called "marvellous"), but also on the whole concept.The Chronicle was also amazed at the work of Andy B.:Belanger’s illustrations are a beautiful and sometimes extraordinary art, especially when Hamlet must face his own demons in the hall of mirrors sequence.To read more of what the Chronicle, uh, chronicled click here.And remember, Haligonians, there are still three shows left to catch tonight and tomorrow night at 8 PM as well as a 2 PM matinee on Sunday.Thanks to everyone who has gone out to see the show so far, we really appreciate your support.
Bardicide at Bus Stop!
There are tons of memories and photos to share from the Halifax ComicCon, and I promise I'll get right on that but, first, I wanted to make sure our friends and fans in Nova Scotia know they can come and support Kill Shakespeare by attending our....FIRST EVER PRESENTATION OF THE KILL SHAKESPEARE STAGE SHOW ON A "MAINSTREAM" STAGE!!!!The Kill Shakespeare stage show is a 90 minute (including intermission) theatre extravaganza that takes all of Andy's amazing art and uses it as backdrop for a team of actors to stage a radio-play style performance complete with live foley and music.
We've teamed up with the amazing people from Lion's Den Theatre and Vile Passeist Theatre to put the show on for a whole week from Tuesday October 30th, to Sunday November 4th. We'd love for you to come join us. And if you can't make it please think of sharing the news on Facebook and Twitter.
Kill Shakespeare at Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street, Halifax):
Tickets $20, $15 for students and anyone with a HalCon pass.
October 30th - 8 PM. Opening Night: stay for drinks and snacks with the cast, director and co-writer!October 31st - 8 PM Halloween Madness: Costumed guests pay student rate. Free lootbags! November 1st - 8 PMNovember 2nd - 8 PMNovember 3rd – 8 PMNovember 4th – 2 PM Matinee, 8 PM Closing Night/Trivia: Free K.S. swag for winners!See you at the show!
Kill Shakespeare is coming to HalCon and the stage!
Halifax has ALWAYS been one of our, if not our absolute, favourite shows on the schedule.
The combination of excellent organizers, a lively and interested crowd, and the hospitality Atlantic Canada is famous for makes it a winner in our books.This year we're going to be doing even more at HalCon than usual -- we're bringing the Kill Shakespeare stageshow!On Saturday at 3:45 PM Kill Shakespeare will be presented by the amazing Lion's Den Theatre in association with Vile Passeist. The two groups have banded together and have been rehearsing the show for almost a month.
Yes, a MONTH. And it isn't JUST because they'll be putting the show on at HalCon.Nope.No siree.You see THIS time around, Kill Shakespeare is going to step beyond the convention scene for THE FIRST TIME EVER.That's right, Kill Shakespeare is hitting the stage in downtown Halifax.
Kill Shakespeare at Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street, Halifax):
Tickets $20, $15 for students and anyone with their HalCon pass.
October 30th - 8 PM. Opening Night: stay for drinks and snacks with the cast, director and co-writer!October 31st - 8 PM Halloween Madness: Costumed guests pay student rate. Free lootbags! November 1st - 8 PMNovember 2nd - 8 PMNovember 3rd – 8 PMNovember 4th – 2 PM Matinee, 8 PM Closing Night/Trivia: Free K.S. swag for winners!We hope all of our East Coast friends will be at HalCon and can catch the free show. We'd also love it if you tweet and post about the Bus Stop theatre run.Better yet, come out with your HalCon pass and get a $5 discount and bring a friend who missed HalCon to the show.This is our chance to prove that comic culture and Shakespeare mix like chocolate and peanut butter!See you soon!Conor