Women of Will

Women in Shakespeare’s plays will be the focus at the Mondavi Center this weekend, April 9-10, as celebrated British actress Tina Packer does her Women of Will program with veteran Shakespearean actor Nigel Gore. Packer will play such characters as the 13-year-old Juliet (in love for the first time); the coolly bloodthirsty Lady Macbeth and the powerful Cleopatra, licentious Queen of the Nile. Women of Will is part performance and part commentary—a gallery of famous females, illustrating how they became more complex as Shakespeare’s career evolved.

The show, which Packer developed after decades of doing Shakespeare and has also published in book version, has earned high praise from The New York Times and others. The Mondavi staging will be intimate, with the audience seated onstage, very close to the actors.

Please note: Saturday’s performance will be divided into two parts, with a dinner break in between, and extend into the evening.