WELCOME TO THE
ENGLISH
THEATRE
OF ROME
The English Theatre of Rome, a division of Ford Entertainment, is dedicated to spring-boarding artists in the Eternal City by producing full seasons of theatrical work in English.
From October to June, our repertory spans five categories: a classical piece, a contemporary play, a world premiere, the work of a featured female writer, and a bilingual production. Each season is curated to introduce a new author to Roman audiences, revitalize a classic, and amplify the voice of a female playwright.
For 30 years, under the leadership of the visionary Gaby Ford, our company has served as a vital platform for directors, playwrights, performers, designers, and technicians from across the globe to showcase their talents to international audiences in the heart of Rome.
SERVING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMMUNITY IN ROME SINCE 1996
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AS YOU LIKE IT by William Shakespeare
The English Theatre of Rome is thrilled to announce a new summer production of William Shakespeare's AS YOU LIKE IT. A rare English-language staging in Rome of one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies, the play follows a group of exiles who flee the rigid structure of court and society for the Forest of Arden-- a dreamlike world where identity becomes fluid, love grows unruly, and the rules of civilized life begin to dissolve. Part romance, part game, part pastoral fever dream, AS YOU LIKE IT remains one of Shakespeare's most moving explorations of freedom, self-invention, and what it means to be truly seen.
Director Carl Granieri (EURYDICE and PETER AND THE STARCATCHER) returns to Rome leading an international team of artists for this new staging, which re-imagines Arden as a liminal space of change: wild, sensual, and untethered from certainty. Blending music, movement, and the lyrical text of Shakespeare's language, the production embraces the play's strange collision of joyful disguise, melancholic desire, and farcical comedy.
AS YOU LIKE IT will run 16 July - 26 July. Additional production and venue details will be announced soon.
Romantic, comic, and unexpectedly melancholy, AS YOU LIKE IT is one of William Shakespeare’s most modern plays-- exploring gender, performance, freedom, and the liberating chaos of falling in love.
Banished from court after her father is overthrown by his own brother, Rosalind escapes into the Forest of Arden disguised as a young man named Ganymede. There, amidst wandering fools, feuding brothers, sighing philosophers, and homeless nobles, the boundaries between her performance and her reality begin to blur. Using her disguise to test the sincerity of those around her-- especially the lovesick Orlando-- Rosalind turns the forest into a hypnotic and exhilarating game of role play, seduction, and emotional revelation.
Around her love blooms wildly, tangling strangers, siblings, and shepherds alike. Brothers at war rediscover one another. Courtly identities dissolve beneath the trees. And what begins as political exile transforms into a strange, waking dream where nearly everyone becomes someone else before they can finally become themselves.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
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Over the course of the last 30 years, ETR has staged hundreds of pieces in a wide variety of genres and styles. Some memorable highlights include:
the celebrated Roman premiere of Sara Ruhl's "Eurydice" (2023) helmed by American guest director Carl Granieri, a trio of blockbuster hits, the all-female "Macbeth" (2022), "Richard III" (2018), and "Hamlet" (2016), all directed by Douglas Dean; "The Great Gatsby" (2012) co-directed by Ford, Saragnese, and Zimmelman; the standing-room only production of Harold Pinter's "The Birthday Party" (2009) directed by Gaby Ford; British deaf comedian Steve Day's Italian premiere, with simultaneous Italian sign translation as a fundraiser for the Robert Wirth foundation (2005, 2007); the world premiere of "The Moths" (2008); the award winning "Ophelia" (2006), devised and directed by Dustin Wills; a sold out and extended presentation of Donald Margolies' "Dinner With Friends" (2004) directed by Harriet Power; the world premiere of "Freudian Slips and Other Underwear" (2003) by Alexia Murray and Nick Nicolosi, directed by Dyanne White, which was remounted in Italian at Teatro Colosseo and for the third year running at Teatro dei Servi; David Ives’ "Universal Language" (2000), our first bilingual production, for the prestigious Cremona Theatre Festival which honored then-emerging director Aureliano Tristan Amadei; and a collaboration with Imogen Kusch whose "Marathon" (1999) by Eduardo Erba won her the Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s "Scotsman’s Award" (1999).
Notable awards and recognitions include: the Outstanding Cultural Contribution Award from the American International Club in Rome (2005); the 50/50 Applause Award from The International Centre for Women in 2013, 2014, and 2016 for our continued commitment to producing the work of female playwrights; the Federation of Women's Associations Overseas selection of founder Gaby Ford for the Outstanding Women Abroad Award honoring her visionary work in creating and leading ETR (2007); and the International Women's Leadership Association honoring Ford and the English Theatre of Rome for Women of Outstanding Leadership (2015).
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