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0-9739093-3-1
54 pp  6 x 9 in
$12.95 (Cdn) pb
April 2006

Cast Size: 35-60
Running Time: 75 Min
$30/Performance

Excerpt

“Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.”

About the Play
It is 44 B.C. and Julius Caesar has vanquished his rivals and consolidated his power in the Roman Republic. To commemorate his victories, Caesar decides to treat the plebeians to the largest “day of games” ever held – the Ludi Fringes - consisting of: a Morning Hunt lead by famous bestiari gladiator Coriolanus; a re-enactment of the Trojan Wars; the noontime Noxii of General Andronicus and his Public Executions of Goth prisoners; and afternoon Gladiatorial combat highlighted by a Naumachia (a rare naval re-enactment) lead by top Gladiators Antony and Octavius. Footing the bill is none other than Greek philanthropist Timon of Athens, and with all those revealing togas and pointy swords waving about, what could possibly go wrong?

Upstart Crow Sports Network (UCSN) travels back to Roman Antiquity to proudly bring you Shakespeare’s Gladiator Games, a clever hybrid of improvised sporting play and spectacle theatre transforming Shakespeare’s Greek and Roman plays into a traditional Roman Ludi. This time, Ovid is joined by Pseudolus to provide all the play-by-play colour commentary, along with interviews and updates from that Coliseum-embedded historian/reporter Plutarch, as Gladiators vie for the coveted wooden Rudis and with it…their freedom.

About the Authors
Chris Coculuzzi works as an educator for the Toronto District School Board and is a co-founder and member of an independent democratic school. He also works in theatre as a producer, director, actor, and playwright. He is the co-author and editor of the Shakespeare's Sports Canon series of five plays: Shakespeare's Rugby Wars, Shakespeare's World Cup, Shakespeare's Gladiator Games, Shakespeare's Comic Olympics, and Shakespeare's NHL (National History League). Other adaptations include Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and an abridged version of Cyrano de Bergerac (co-authored with Roxanne Deans). He currently resides in Toronto with his companion Kathy and their children Cabiria, Lórien, and Paisley.

Matt Toner is a regular lecturer on progressive media theory and works in video game development in Vancouver as a Lead Designer. As a playwright Matt has developed scripts through the Master Playwrights’ Workshop of New York’s Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center and Uta Hagen’s HB Studio. Matt is the co-author of four of the Shakespeare's Sports Canon series: Shakespeare's Rugby Wars, Shakespeare's World Cup, Shakespeare's Gladiator Games, and Shakespeare's NHL (National History League). Other titles include Objects in Mirror May be Closer than They Appear, Jessie Bell from Arkansas, Killing Time at the Crossroads of the World, The Pimp Hand of God, and We Unhappy Few.

Quotes
"Great energy, inventive writing, and staging." - NOW Magazine

“Witty …a fast-moving spectacle. The Bard would be proud.” – The Varsity