What the Press Are Saying:
“Measure Plus Dido Dazzles..”
Read the Napa Valley Register’s review of “Measure + Dido”
“Entertainment that reaches the heights of, well, as good as it gets …
A production that had brought to Napa Valley not just two Englishmen who are two of the finest living actors, well, in the world, but the Folger Consort, a dazzling collection of talent from Washington, D.C. …To hear Jacobi read the lines of the wicked Angelo … was something I never expected to experience in this lifetime, let alone in Yountville.
… A thrilling production.”
KQED’s The Do List: “This is a coup for the North Bay”
San Francisco Chronicle Theater Critic Lily Janiak:
SF Chronicle’s Lily Janiak elicits a delightful confession from the man she calls “one of the greatest living actors in the English-speaking world”: Derek Jacobi.
“Sir Derek Jacobi has performed the part of Angelo, the lecherous, duplicitous deputy in Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure,” only once before.… In 1958.
He was 19 at the time; this was for a youth theater production in Edinburgh. ‘I think I was pretty terrible,’ Jacobi remembers, speaking over the phone from a chateau in southwest France that he shares with his partner and artistic collaborator, Richard Clifford.”
This week, in Napa County, Jacobi has a chance to redeem himself, Clifford jokes.”
Read more of Janiak’s delightful interview with the star and director of “Measure + Dido,” and about Jacobi’s approach to making Shakespeare accessible, his TV shows “Vicious” and “Last Tango in Halifax,” and why this “posh” Shakespearean really just wants to play “an ordinary bloke.”
KDFC’s State of the Arts: Listen to Jeffrey Freymann’s interview with Derek Jacobi and Richard Clifford
“The best of London in our midst”
Read the Napa Valley Register’s review of “Much Ado About Nothing”
“Last weekend, eight actors and a crate of oranges in a dimly lit old room provided magnificent proof of the power of theater.
On tour (troupes travel internationally), they bring with them the merry, audacious spirit of of the day. They also bring their own set, not more than a doorway with a curtain, behind which are their costumes, musical instruments and minimal props (the crate of oranges).
It’s Shakespeare as it was done in his day (so we can imagine), and it’s wonderful. … The simplicity of the setup is all the more reason the players have to be brilliant. And they were.
Without stage lights, or for that matter, a stage, they presented the most memorable and most delightful production I’ve ever seen of Shakespeare’s much-loved and much-performed romantic comedy “Much Ado About Nothing.”’
November 18, 2015 by Sasha Paulsen, Napa Valley Register
“A Rare Theatrical Coup!”
San Francisco Chronicle’s Robert Hurwitt writes:
“In a rare theatrical coup, NapaShakes presents one of only two U.S. stops (four performances only) on the Globe’s international tour of director Max Webster’s much- praised production of one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies.”
November 10, 2015
The San Francisco Chronicle dubs NapaShakes’s presentations of Shakespeare one of the Top Ten Reasons to Visit Napa Valley Now!
NapaShakes is “Shakespeare by the best!”
The Napa Valley Register’s Sasha Paulsen dubs NapaShakes “Shakespeare by the best”
and Evy Warshawski numbers the Globe among “classical theater’s finest artists.”
October 28, 2015
Globe Actors at the CIA
Read More
St. Helena Star
October 26, 2015
Talk about a Reverse Commute!
NapaShakes Delivers World-Class Theatre
December 9, 2014 St. Helena Star
“Thanks to a new nonprofit, the Napa Valley can now add world-class theater to its reputation for pre-eminent wine, food and culture.”
Ashland, make room for Napa Valley stage
February 4, 2015 Sonoma Press-Democrat
“Laura Rafaty already has brought to Yountville internationally acclaimed actors.
If she has her way, this year she will showcase more famous thespians throughout the valley.”
NapaShakes: A playwright’s playground
APRIL 29, 2015 12:31 PM • EVY WARSHAWSKI
Lear Comes to Lincoln
Register/Weekly Calistogan, October 22, 2014
“To see a performance at the Globe can be a highlight of a trip to London,
but this December, it’s possible to see one of their inspired productions without crossing the pond.”
Silverado Students Critique “King Lear”
Napa Valley Register, December 11, 2014
Alexis Ayer, 12, wrote: “‘King Lear’ was an inspiring show and had so much emotion and hard work put into it. There were times where you felt as if you were going to cry and times where you couldn’t stop laughing.”
From the Editor: New Nonprofit Brings “King Lear” to the Napa Valley
St. Helena Star, October 24, 2014
“The only place in the Bay Area to see the touring production of Shakespeare’s “King Lear” will be on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater.”
Napa Valley Life Magazine, November-December 2014
“This thrilling ,fast-paced production breaks the boundaries between the stage and the audience in signature Globe Theater style”