Love, Shakespeare and Rope

This was a great debut for an innovative company at a gorgeous venue. The show excelled when it leaned into the risky and weird, and the audio samples added significantly to the show. Combining classics like Shakespeare with something novel like shibari was a great way to introduce the art form and its potential. I can tell there's deeper potential for this company in the land of the strange & meaningful and would love to see more of this type of work in future Fringes.

My final show of the Fringe and I saved an amazing show for last. Artful, sexy, and awe-inspiring, this is a must-see!

You can read my full review online!

I’ve seen and been in so many Shakespeare plays that I was excited to see what the medium of Shibari could add. Frequently, love and obsession can be lost in a tangle of iambic pentameter, but the chemistry between Shibari tiers and models is so powerful, that it moves you more than most full productions of Romeo and Juliet. Everyone’s athleticism and skill is on full display, but their engagement with the Bard in voiceover and whispers added a new element of literary beauty and intention. While “oh what a tangled web we weave” is Walter Scott rather than Shakespeare, it popped into my mind as an apt inspiration for the Bard’s jute ropes needing to come unknotted before he can scribble his thoughts. A doff of the cap to the entire cast and crew, I would absolutely come again <3

This show was INCREDIBLE. A beautiful exploration of love, lust, trust, and defiance, told through the art of Shibari rope and Shakespearian sonnets. A truly unique blend of art forms that leaves the audience room to explore their personal relationships to the material, while following along with the 5-act structure of the show. Each of the artists involved was incredibly talented, passionate, knowledgeable and deeply interesting to watch. The rest of the run is completely sold out, but word is there will be a remount of the show at a larger venue soon to come. KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED for more from Birdhaus.

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Love, Shakespeare, and Rope is a must watch beautiful, intimate, and very original interpretation of loving connections using the art of shibari combined with the poesis of Shakespeare's lesser known sonnets to love.

As an audience member, I really enjoyed the ways each pair expressed different ways of connecting romantically from the innocence of first love, to the passion fueled toxicity of jealousy, to the sweet yearning of love that's perhaps more difficult to keep. It's the overwhelming emotions, sense of connection, and vulnerability of being in a relationship wrapped up beautifully in each pair's athletic performance using rope and body language as their main vehicle of expression.

Excellent show!

Cassandra Davey's NNNNN (!!) review of Love, Shakespeare and Rope from NEXT Magazine.

Love, Shakespeare and Rope was absolutely beautiful and the performance was even more moving than I expected. The way Shakespeare and shibari were woven together felt seamless, poetic and deeply emotional.

Each of the performers were incredibly skilled, connected, vulnerabl and completely captivating. You could feel the trust and emotion between them in every moment.

I cried. It was intimate, powerful and unforgettable and I can't wait to see it again.

Intimate, intense, at times romantic and darkly erotic. This show married shibari and aerial work with Shakespeare and such thrilling emotion. I was captivated through the entire performance. Though there is some shouting in the last act that took me by surprise, so be prepared!

The Birdhaus cocktails were also lovely~

The Birdhaus is a lovely event space with a very fitting atmosphere for this show. The performances were all breathtaking and really showed off the performers skills. Beautiful costuming, sound design, and theming.

this should have a warning in fringe book- it is about bondage. it was beautiful to look at in act 1 and 3 but I needed to leave at intermission . beautiful people, set music, speaking but alos disturbing.