Performances

Knighthorse specializes in creating original adaptions of Shakespeare: one or two actors on a bare stage with simple costumes and few props – playing ALL the parts. We take Shakespeare’s 400 year-old text and massage it to create something new. While his words and characters remain essentially unchanged, in our very capable and respectful hands, his plays get a mini-makeover in order to facilitate this minimalistic and highly imaginative delivery.

Check out our stable of interactive and engaging productions below.

What Fools These Mortals Be
A two-person adaptation of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
Shakespeare’s classic story of confused couples, playful pixies, and frenetic fools told with great fun and infectious humor.

Join Puck in the woods outside Athens for the story of a magical purple flower, innocently misused, which creates a misguided mess of mayhem and mischief for Helena, Demetrius, Hermia and Lysander who get mis-matched, de-matched and re-matched all in the course of a single night, while Titania, the omnipresent and all-powerful queen of the fairies, mistakenly falls in love with a simple weaver who Puck has conveniently transformed into an ass.

Sound like fun? It is!

What Fools These Mortals Be
A two-person adaptation of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Sue Harrison - Provincetown BannerDazzling, big fun that will keep your eyes glued to stage. Magical!
Beatrice and Benedick
A two-person adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing
Beatrice was a quick-witted maid who could not bear to hear talk of a husband; Benedick was a soldier and sworn bachelor. So how did these two single-minded individuals, who had railed so long against marriage, end up getting hitched – to each other?

Find out as this most unlikeliest of couples recalls the tragic, yet ultimately redemptive, events surrounding their somewhat contrived courtship.

Beatrice and Benedick
A two-person adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing Susan Rand Brown - Provincetown BannerA bravura performance, a tour de force of ensemble acting.
Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On
A two-person adaptation of The Tempest
Shakespeare’s timeless tale of redemption and forgiveness brought to life without the aid of special effects or elaborate sets. Using only minimal props and simple costumes, this production relies wholly upon Shakespeare’s beautiful language and powerful imagery to ignite the audiences’ imaginations.

This is wonderfully imaginative and accessible theatre – filled with love and laughter, monsters and magicians, fairies and fools – which brings you back to a time when stories really did begin, “Once upon a time…”

Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On
A two-person adaptation of The Tempest Don Talley - Asheville FringeTwo actors, constantly switching between multiple roles ... not only pulled off, but done so with flair ... Simply breathtaking.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
A one-man adaptation of Macbeth
A radical new interpretation of Shakespeare’s bloodiest play. Scotland’s savior becomes her greatest enemy as supernatural solicitings awake the Macbeths’ regal ambitions. Prompted by the witches’ prophecy, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to kill his dearest friends, shaming him to greatness and leading Macbeth to the very edge of sanity.

Presented, as we like to say, without soliloquies, the audience quickly becomes complicit in the murderous scheme to usurp King Duncan’s crown. Ty deftly draws in these unwitting accomplices, wrapping them up in a tangled web of deception and deceit, where they witness, first hand, the thane’s ultimately damming quest for power.

Something Wicked This Way Comes
A one-man adaptation of Macbeth Amy Gordon - The Bement School, Deerfield, MAMakes Shakespeare's language immediate, vital and accessible.
Quintessence of Dust
A one-man adaptation of Hamlet
Shakespeare’s greatest play brought to life by a single actor on a bare stage, using nothing but tremendous stamina, great imagination and… “words, words, words.”

Two and twenty years have passed since Denmark’s son was sacrificed at the hands of Fate. Prompted to revenge yet paralyzed by thought, Hamlet was unable to act until it was too late to save even himself. His body lies buried now within the Earth, but his spirit will not be quenched by dirt and stone, nor his memory lost to apathy and neglect. Horatio, our storyteller, will not allow Time to steal from us that history defined by his friend’s true and noble heart.

Join our narrator on an exploration into the very nature of existence as he attempts to remember his most dear lord, a prince without equal. So shall you hear of carnal, bloody and unnatural acts while you bear witness to legacies erased and nobility wasted. Greatness has indeed been lost, but it may be found again in the “mind’s eye” of your own imaginations.

Quintessence of Dust
A one-man adaptation of Hamlet Matt Pasca - Bay Shore High SchoolPowerfully compelling ... reaches out and pulls you into the heart of Shakespeare's universe.
A Little Touch of Harry in the Night
A one-man adaptation of Henry V
One man’s honor, sacrifice, courage: one nation’s glory! A play about values and beliefs that transcend time: duty, sacrifice, integrity, justice, faith. And the power of those ideals to change history… and turn ordinary men and women into heroes.

A Little Touch of Harry in the Night
A one-man adaptation of Henry V Zoe Green - The ScotsmanA moving visceral adaptation with the best fight scene I've witnessed ... you can see heads rolling, you can smell the carnage ... a phenomenal performance.
Shakespeare ON DEMAND

Two actors, 38 plays and lots and lots of words.

Pick a play – ANY play – and experience Shakespeare’s language as never before. Hear the Bard’s most famous scenes and speeches delivered, in an instant, with passion, energy and astounding clarity. This performance is GUARANTEED to be unique each and every time because YOU make every selection. Pick a play you know. Pick a play you don’t. ‘Tis no matter. Your eyes will be opened, your spirits lifted and your imagination set free.

So prepare to be blown away by the variety and volume of Shakespeare ON DEMAND.

Shakespeare ON DEMAND
Reva Blau - Provincetown BannerTy and Amy deliver the plays with unrivaled joy, passion and bravura.
Shakespeare’s Lovers

Shakespeare’s most famous couples brought to life: Kate and Petruchio, Romeo and Juliet, Beatrice and Benedict, Hamlet and Ophelia, and many, many more. The most-recognized and best-loved scenes in all of Shakespeare presented in an interactive, imaginative and engaging style.

Shakespeare’s Lovers
Graham Davies - Edinburgh FringeShakespeare's words delivered with joy, passion and conviction ... totally captivating.
Bound by Love

With her husband, and partner, deployed to Afghanistan, Amy created this one-woman show, which explores the enduring and transformative power of love.

Showcasing several of Shakespeare’s plays, Amy deftly switches between archaic verse and modern prose to create multiple characters while engaging your imaginations to build intricate scenes on a bare stage.

Bound by Love
Rob Hubbard - Pioneer Press A reminder of the magic that theatre can offer with only magnificent words and outstanding acting.
Touched by War

With her husband, and partner, deployed to Afghanistan, Amy created this one-woman showcase which explores the impact of war on the feminine psyche.

Showcasing several of Shakespeare’s plays, Amy deftly switches between archaic verse and modern prose to create multiple characters while engaging your imaginations to build intricate scenes on a bare stage.

Touched by War
Matthew Everett - Minnesota FringeAn ideal company to bring Shakespeare into schools. They know how to make the audience part of the play ... and thus more actively and deeply invest them in the understanding and outcome of the story. Highly recommended!