Don’t Like Shakespeare? Try It With an All-Female, All-Nude Cast

To Be Nude or Not To Be Nude, That Is the Question, and the Answer Is to Be Nude

I have often heard that the No. 1 one complaint people have against watching anything Shakespeare is trouble understanding the language. But I have a very strong feeling that everyone would gladly put aside any problems they have with Shakespeare to see it performed in the nude.  

If you happen to be in New York City, you might have gotten a chance to see the Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society’s production of The Tempest, which they did in the nude in Central Park. For this production, the all-female members of the Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society felt The Tempest was the best of Shakespeare’s plays to do with an all-nude, all-female cast.  

Nudity makes sense in “The Tempest,” a story of 12-year exiles on a Caribbean Island who are always naked and more “civilized” characters who wash ashore the island after a storm capsizes their ship. The clothed newcomers begin in costume but later shed their “skins” as they become more involved with the locals and their way of life.  

“You have to do naked for something other than shock value,” said Kara Lynn, who played Ferdinand in the play. “In the show, nudity is about feeling free enough to shed your old world values.”  

The cast includes Suzannah Gratz, Clara Kundin, Kara Lynn, Layne Tisdel Martin, Reanna Roane, Marisa Roper, Gina Marie Russell, and Sarah Sutliff. Sadly, there were only two performances, but the show got some pretty great reviews, so maybe another show is in the works, like A Midsummer Night’s Dream?

Via batty for nudity 2