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Clowns Reading Shakespeare

 
Nicholas Abrams Review by Nicholas Abrams 4 Published: 5 Jul 2026 165 Front St E Show Dates: 11 Jul 2026-12 Jul 2026

Children’s theatre is often judged by how successfully it entertains the youngest members of the audience. Clowns Reading Shakespeare clears that hurdle with ease. The bigger surprise is just how much there is here for the adults. At the performance I attended, they actually outnumbered the children – and they were laughing just as loudly.

Playful, inventive, and packed with charm

The premise is gloriously simple. Four clowns and an increasingly exasperated director gather to decide which Shakespeare play they should perform before launching into a series of increasingly chaotic rehearsals. It’s a format that allows for plenty of silliness while gently introducing younger audiences to the Bard, without ever feeling remotely educational.

Alyssa Pothier’s Dinkee, the stage manager, acts as the glue holding the production together. Warm, welcoming and endlessly patient, she guides both the audience and her fellow performers through the mayhem with considerable charm. Around her, each clown is given the chance to develop their own comic identity, ensuring everyone will inevitably leave with a personal favourite. Mine was Puff, played by Sienna Singh, whose wonderfully expressive face continued telling its own story even when the focus had shifted elsewhere.

The audience participation is handled well, particularly in the opening half. Children are encouraged to contribute from the outset, while the adults aren’t spared either. The improvisation that comes with involving young audience members is never entirely predictable, although there were moments when the cast seemed slightly unsure how best to build on the unexpected responses they received. Experienced children’s performers often know exactly how to turn those moments into comedy gold; here, they occasionally let them slip away a little too quickly.

The production also loses a little momentum around two-thirds of the way through. Amusingly, the performers even acknowledge this themselves by announcing they’re “losing the audience” – and they’re not entirely wrong. As the audience interaction becomes less frequent, the show briefly settles into a sequence of comic sketches before finding its feet again for the energetic finale.

Thankfully, the sketches themselves are consistently entertaining. The auditions for Hamlet are particularly enjoyable, while a delightfully revised version of Romeo and Juliet gives Shakespeare’s doomed lovers a rather happier ending than they usually receive.

By the finale, children are on stage playing trees while another young volunteer takes on Macbeth in battle. It’s gloriously chaotic, thoroughly engaging and exactly the sort of theatrical experience that might persuade a child – and perhaps a few adults – that Shakespeare isn’t nearly as intimidating as they first thought.

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The Blurb:

A troupe of eager Clowns has arrived at the theatre to audition for a Shakespeare play. What play, you ask? One of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, of course! Which one, you ask? Well... Can these Clowns handle Hamlet, the famous drama about a grief-stricken son? Or how about Romeo & Juliet, the beloved tale of star-crossed romance? Or maybe Macbeth, Shakespeare’s spooky play about witches and kings?