On your bike for the Bard

Experience two of Shakespeare’s greatest plays performed al-fresco by a group of travelling players at an ancient home where the Bard himself is rumoured to have once lived and worked.
HandlebardsHandlebards
Handlebards

The Handlebards Theatre Company is a four-strong group of bicycling players who will be stopping off at historic Hoghton Tower tomorrow and Saturday on an epic tour from Glasgow to London. With four actors and four bicycles, they are 
undertaking this 926-mile adventure travelling between dates entirely by pedal power, carrying with them sets, props and costumes needed to stage two of Shakespeare’s finest dramas.

On Friday, from 6pm, they will be presenting his greatest romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet.

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Then on Saturday, they perform the rumbustious romp that is Twelfth Night.

Playing an amazing 40 characters between them, The Handlebards say their tour is as close as possible to the way Shakespeare, who worked as a travelling player, might have toured the land himself.

Research has backed up the idea William Shakespeare lived and worked at Hoghton during his early career from 1579-1581. 

Stratford Grammar school master John Cottam was a tenant of the de Hoghton’s and could have introduced Shakespeare to Alexander de Hoghton, who already 
employed Faulke Gyllom as his master of revels and might have employed Shakepeare as an understudy.

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Audience members should bring a picnic and something to sit on – or book a picnic from Rowleys Catering, online at www.rowleyscatering.co.uk.

Tickets are £12 for adults and £10 for concessions, on 0844 888 9991.