SOLD OUT - Shakespeare's Fool (Leek)

Will 'Cavaliero' Kempe was one of the finest performers of the Elizabethan age. Gentleman player, juggling jester, headmaster of Morris dancers and London's finest clown, until...he fell out with Will 'git-face' Shakespeare.

Kempe died alone and poverty stricken, not very far from the original Globe Theatre, of which he was an original shareholder and faded into obscurity; a world away from his former life having supposedly originated some of literature's best- known characters, including Bottom, Dogberry, and Falstaff.

Join ‘Cavaliero’ Kempe on the streets of London as he gives his final performance to an audience of a mouse and a marrote and tells the tale of his life, his rise to stardom and what really happened between him and William Shakespeare.

This one-actor show, starring Robin Leetham premiered at the EdFringe in 2021 before touring the UK and received rave reviews from critics and audience alike. In 2022 the show transferred to the National Theatre of Romania for performances at the International Shakespeare Festival and returned to the EdFringe for another successful run before closing it's 2022-23 tour with sell-out shows at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham and York International Shakespeare Festival. 

A bittersweet tale, told by an idiot.

★★★★★

BROADWAYBABY.COM

“SHAKESPEARE’S FOOL IS AN ECONOMIC, CLASSY PIECE DIRECTED ROBUSTLY BY BEN HUMPHREY AND BROUGHT TO LIFE BY A MULTI-FACETED LEETHAM WHO EMBRACES THE TEARS OF THE CLOWN...”

★★★★★

THEATREANDARTSREVIEWS.COM

"A SUPERB PRODUCTION...STARRING THE EXCEPTIONALLY TALENTED ROBIN LEETHAM...HAS SUCCEEDED IN BRINGING AN OFTEN UNTOLD STORY ABOUT SHAKESPEARE’S ERA TO LIFE"

★★★★

LÌAM RUDDEN (EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS)

"...LIVELY PRODUCTION, DIRECTED WITH PACE AND RELISH BY BEN HUMPHREY... IT'S CAPTIVATING"

★★★★

THEREVIEWSHUB.COM

“ROBIN LEETHAM RETURNS KEMPE TO VIVID LIFE...ENTIRELY BELIEVABLE AND LIKEABLE.”

★★★★

THE OUTLIER SCOTLAND

"CAPTIVATING AND ENERGETIC...”

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED SHOW

FRINGEREVIEW.COM

“LEETHAM IS AN IMPERIOUS STORYTELLER...THIS IS AN IMPRESSIVE AND ENJOYABLE PIECE OF THEATRE – A SCRUPULOUSLY RESEARCHED AND IMAGINATIVELY CRAFTED SCRIPT BROUGHT TO LIFE BY AN ACTOR AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME”