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Covering Shakespeare and 'Fixing King John'

After listening to the White Stripes' recording of Robert Johnson's "Stop Breaking Down," playwright Kirk Lynn was inspired to try a cover version of his own.

He decided to take on a Shakespeare play. But, reluctant to tamper with one of the greats, he opted to create his own version of what he considered Shakespeare's worst play, "King John."

After getting under the hood with "King John," Lynn found plenty to like inside the play. He kept the core story of an unpopular king trying and failing to make his people love him.

Lynn's version of the play keeps none of Shakepeare's dialogue, replacing it with more modern language and plenty of swearing. He ended up with a darkly comic tale of a leader more concerned with his legacy than with the welfare of his people.

"Fixing King John" features new music by Peter Stopschinski; it stars Lowell Bartholomee, Florida Bryant, Jay Bird, Barbara Chisolm, Robert Faires, Robert S. Fisher, Tom Green, E. Jason Liebrecht, Jeffrey Mills, and Adrienne Mischler. It's directed by Madge Darlington.

Fixing King John November 7 - 24 Thursday - Saturday at 8:00 pm Sunday at 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm The Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo

Mike is the production director at KUT, where he’s been working since his days as an English major at the University of Texas. He produces and hosts This Is My Thing and Arts Eclectic, and also produces Get Involved and the Sonic ID project. When pressed to do so, he’ll write short paragraphs about himself in the third person, but usually prefers not to.
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