Every summer (well, almost every summer), the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) graces Boston Common with its annual Free Shakespeare on the Common production, dazzling audiences with the immortal words of the Bard of Avon. For 2021, CSC’s staging of The Tempest, which starred celebrated stage and screen actor John Douglas Thompson (“Mare of Easttown”), took up residence near the Parkman Bandstand, ending August 8.
Those who didn't get their fill of iambic pentameter from that can enjoy two more free outdoor Shakespeare extravaganzas this August. The locally based travelling troupe Brown Box Theatre Project (pictured) returns to the Hub with its rendition of the popular comedy Much Ado About Nothing, which barnstorms through such Boston locales as Herter Park in Allston and Atlantic Wharf—along with other locations throughout eastern Massachusetts—from August 6–29. In addition to these gratis performances, Brown Box is also hosting “Stage to Page” Library Workshops that explore Shakespeare’s world through group exercises, discussions and more. Over in Chelsea, Apollinaire Theatre Company has crafted a moving (literally, moving, as it travels from place-to-place), bilingual (English/Spanish) production of the classic romance/tragedy Romeo & Juliet, which presents the story of two young lovers caught in a deadly inter-family feud on Saturday nights from August 14–28. Come early to revel in some craft brews, street performances and live music at the beer garden hosted by Everett, Mass.-based sudsters BearMoose Brewing Company.
