The Motley Shakespeare Players (Motley Shakes), the MFA company of Mary Baldwin University’s Shakespeare and Performance program, bring to life The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont in a Renaissance-style production. The Motley Players will follow original Elizabethan rehearsal conditions: they perform with no director, only one week to rehearse the play, and cue scripts only.

This production is full to the brim with clowns, sword fights, and giants as an acting company attempts to put on the play The London Merchant. However, a meddling pair of audience members starts to rebel against the actors, inserting their own wishes onto the play. Will the actors successfully perform their play or will the audience members spoil the whole show with their loud desires?

Join Motley Shakes for their performances of The Knight of the Burning Pestle at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, January 29, and Tuesday, January 30, at the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse, located at 10 S. Market Street, Staunton, VA. Admission is free, donations accepted.

For more information on The Knight of the Burning Pestle, please contact Liz Bernardo at motleyshakes@gmail.com.