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Beowulf—A Thousand Years of Baggage

  • APRIL 16, 2013 – MAY 5, 2013

  • OBERON

  • Run Time: 1 hour and 10 minutes

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OBERON becomes a 21st century mead hall in this passionate retelling of the Old English epic poem. Watch as Beowulf sings, struts and slashes his way through a thousand years of literary scholarship, revealing the raw and rowdy SongPlay within.  Featuring original music that combines Weillian cabaret, 40’s jazz harmony, punk, electronica and Romantic Lieder composed by Dave Malloy from last season’s sold-out Three Pianos.

Need to know

Recommended Grades 9 and up for strong language, subject matter, violence, and graphic images.

Read about Beowulf in our Spring Guide.

Notable dates

Recommended Grades 9 and up for strong language, subject matter, violence, and graphic images.

Discussions

Join us for an epic reading of the original Old English Beowulf – Thursday, April 25,  starting at noon at OBERON. Click here for more details.

Sarah Hancock

Photos & Videos

Beowulf Promo Video Diane

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Beowulf Production photos

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Press

Boston Globe

Boston Globe: Troupe brings ‘Beowulf’ back to the people

The one-act play, which clocks in at 70 minutes, was first produced in traditional theaters, but the troupe has since performed it in rock clubs and bars. “As soon as we put it in a bar, where people were drinking and hooting and hollering, it really came to life,’’ says Malloy.

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The one-act play, which clocks in at 70 minutes, was first produced in traditional theaters, but the troupe has since performed it in rock clubs and bars. “As soon as we put it in a bar, where people were drinking and hooting and hollering, it really came to life,’’ says Malloy.

Read full article

Dig Boston

Dig Boston: Experience BEOWULF: A THOUSAND YEARS OF BAGGAGE

This epic poem has been converted for a theater audience and has also been given a twist.

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This epic poem has been converted for a theater audience and has also been given a twist.

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New York Times

New York Times Review: Monster Tale, With Klezmer

Mr. Craig is hilariously revenge-of-the-nerdy as Beowulf, his heroic posturing notably at odds with his paunch and his glasses. And those academics turn out to have darker aspects to their personalities: they become Grendel and the other beasts Beowulf confronts.

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Mr. Craig is hilariously revenge-of-the-nerdy as Beowulf, his heroic posturing notably at odds with his paunch and his glasses. And those academics turn out to have darker aspects to their personalities: they become Grendel and the other beasts Beowulf confronts.

Read full article

Variety

Variety Review: Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage

“Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage” is a song-play that both depicts every English major’s epic-poem scourge in clever rock opera terms and deconstructs its own deconstruction via mock academic panel analysis.

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“Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage” is a song-play that both depicts every English major’s epic-poem scourge in clever rock opera terms and deconstructs its own deconstruction via mock academic panel analysis.

Read full article

Explore

Jason Craig and Rod Hipskind in the Shotgun Players’ production of Beowulf—A Thousand Years of Baggage.

21st Century Epic

An interview with Beowulf writer Jason Craig, composer Dave Malloy, and performer Jessica Jelliffe.

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An interview with Beowulf writer Jason Craig, composer Dave Malloy, and performer Jessica Jelliffe.

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Dave Malloy

On Words that Describe Plays with Music in Them

“We started throwing around ‘partopera/ partcriticism,’ which certainly had a lot of cool punctuation in it, but was not quite right”

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“We started throwing around ‘partopera/ partcriticism,’ which certainly had a lot of cool punctuation in it, but was not quite right”

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Credits

Creative team

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