HAMLET • THE TEMPEST
2025 marks the 50th anniversary of Actors From The London Stage, our resident touring company that tours the United States twice yearly. AFTLS was founded in 1975 at the University of California - Santa Barbara by Dr. Homer “Murph” Swander and Sir Patrick Stewart along with venerated actors Tony Church, Lisa Harrow, and Bernard Lloyd.
Actors From The London Stage’s unique, bespoke 5-actor touring model features a weeklong residency at colleges and universities nationwide, culminating in its trademark performance of an entire Shakespeare play where each actor portrays multiple roles.
We celebrate the company’s incredible legacy with Hamlet, Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy. Hamlet tours throughout spring 2025 to Hope College, William & Mary, the University of Texas - Austin, John Carroll University, Purdue, Mississippi State University, Gonzaga University, and Notre Dame. The Hamlet cast will also appear at the Shakespeare Association of America’s annual meeting in Boston, MA in March 2025, as well as hosting workshops at Notre Dame in London during the week of April 21 and performing at the Cockpit Theatre on April 27.
Click here for tickets to the Notre Dame performance of Hamlet (Mar. 26-28).
Following in the fall is a tour of Shakespeare’s late romance The Tempest, touring from September through November of 2025.
KING LEAR
SHAKESCENES • SHAKESPEARE AFTER HOURS
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival (NDSF), the professional theatre in residence at the University of Notre Dame since 2000. Highlighting this season is the Professional Company production of King Lear, produced for the first time by NDSF and directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh, a director, writer, and educator whose work has been produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Playmakers Repertory Company, the Kennedy Center, and many others.
King Lear will perform at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center at the University of Notre Dame from August 19-31, 2025. Tickets on sale at www.shakespeare.nd.edu on April 15, 2025.
As part of our opening night celebration, we will be hosting an NDSF alumni reunion on the opening night of King Lear, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. We’ll be welcoming cast and company members from the past quarter century back to Notre Dame for a night of fellowship and celebration. More information on this event coming soon!
Also returning as part of the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival are ShakeScenes and Shakespeare After Hours! ShakeScenes, a perennial audience favorite featuring performances by community members of all ages, will perform in the Leighton Concert Hall at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on Saturday, July 19, 2025. Shakespeare After Hours, the raucous adults-only night of unrestrained Shakespearean tomfoolery, returns to LangLab in South Bend for two wild performances on Friday, July 25, 2025.
SONNETFEST • SHAKESPEARE AND POSSIBILITY • AND MORE!
But that’s not all! Sonnetfest returns to the campus of Notre Dame on April 23, 2025, to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday with a daylong reading of all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets at the Duncan Student Center.
And our collaboration with ThinkND, Shakespeare & Possibility, continues throughout spring 2025, with Directorial Concepts and Cutting the Script just posted and other installments to follow throughout the spring.
Finally, our educational programs continue at Westville Correctional Facility in Westville, IN, and DePaul Academy in South Bend, IN.
There are even more events and presentations in the works for 2025 as well – we hope you’ll join us for what will be one of the busiest and most exciting years in our history. Keep an eye on shakespeare.nd.edu for all of the latest information, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram as well.
2025 at a Glance
January-April 2025: Hamlet (Actors From The London Stage Spring 2025 Tour)
March 19-23, 2025: AFTLS in residence at the Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Boston, MA
March 26-28, 2025: Hamlet (Actors From The London Stage) Notre Dame Performances
April 1, 2025: NDSF 2025 Tickets on Sale
April 21, 2025: Shakespeare and Possibility: Jean Trounstine: A Legacy of Shakespeare in Prison Work
April 23, 2025: Sonnetfest 2025
April 27, 2025: Hamlet (Actors From The London Stage) London Performance at The Cockpit and AFTLS 50th Anniversary Reunion Celebration
July 19, 2025: ShakeScenes (NDSF Community Company)
July 25, 2025: Shakespeare After Hours (NDSF Community Company) 7pm • 9pm
August 19-31, 2025: King Lear (NDSF Professional Company)
August 21, 2025: King Lear Opening Night + Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival Reunion Event
September-November 2025: The Tempest (Actors From The London Stage Fall 2025 Tour)
September 24-26: The Tempest (Actors From The London Stage) Notre Dame Performances
Now Available
Our own Scott Jackson is featured in a new video from the Notre Dame College of Arts & Letters discussing Foundationing, an anti-harm approach to actor training that grew out of programming he developed for use in prisons. Scott covers how Foundationing "upsets the paradigm" by centering the performer in the process. Fascinating!
Click here for a complete listing of upcoming events from Shakespeare at Notre Dame!