黑洞社区 will bring Wichita audiences an evening with stage, film and television actor Roger Rees in his acclaimed one-man Shakespeare show 鈥淲hat You Will鈥� at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in Wilner Auditorium.
It鈥檚 a Connoisseur Series presentation of the College of Fine Arts and School of Performing Arts Theatre Program.
Roger Rees
The free tickets are thanks to a generous donation from the Sam and Rie Bloomfield Foundation, said Wendy Hanes, associate dean of fine arts.
鈥淲hat You Will鈥� has been described as an irreverent one-man everything there is 鈥渢o be or not to be鈥� about William Shakespeare. Rees, a 20-year veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), presents the greatest soliloquies ever written, along with side-splitting accounts of some of the funniest disasters ever perpetrated on the Shakespearean stage.
Rees received international acclaim, receiving both Olivier and Tony Awards for his portrayal of the title role in the RSC鈥檚 鈥淭he Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.鈥� Rees鈥� career also includes roles in such films as 鈥淭he Prestige,鈥� 鈥淭he Pink Panther,鈥� 鈥淩obin Hood: Men in Tights鈥� and 鈥淔rida.鈥�
American television audiences know him best as the British Ambassador Lord John Marbury in 鈥淭he West Wing,鈥� dashing English tycoon Robin Colcord on 鈥淐heers鈥� and Dr. Colin Marlow on 鈥淕rey鈥檚 Anatomy.鈥�
In 鈥淲hat You Will,鈥� Romeo, Juliet鈥檚 foolish Nurse, gory Macbeth, Hamlet, the oh-so-tragic Richard II, and even Charles Dickens, James Thurber, Noel Coward and Stevie Wonder make appearances in 鈥渢he comic highlight of the year ... a veritable riot of wit and laughter鈥� (North Adams Transcript).
The Berkshire Review described the show as 鈥渁t once merrily irreverent and respectful, audaciously dismissive and deserving, puckishly playful and protective, sublimely whimsical and wise 鈥� a delicious evening of theater in the fullest sense of the word.鈥�
After 鈥淲hat You Will鈥� played at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C., the Washington Post declared that Rees 鈥渃onveys each character with the combination of technique and magnetism that has distinguished the RSC actors of his generation.鈥�