“Shakespeare’s Mighty Sorority” by Ben Brantley “Fashion is hardly the first thing on Tina Packer’s mind in Women of Will her impassioned exploration of Shakespeare’s heroines, which opened Sunday night at the Gym at Judson. Yet even in this month, when designers are strutting their wares on runways all over New York, there’s unlikely to be a more [...]
“Star-Crossed, Tamed or Tragic: A Tour of Shakespeare’s Heroines” “Riding those words like an expert equestrian in “Women of Will,” directed by Eric Tucker, Ms. Packer becomes the age and shape the character demands she be. You start to understand how barnstorming troupers of previous centuries could tour in Shakespeare in their twilight years without [...]
"Brilliant! Fearlessly impassioned acting that you'll remember for as long as you live." Read the full article on The Wall Street Journal
Tina Packer, lately the artistic director of Shakespeare & Company in MA, offers an evening on Shakespeare's women. Women of Will, is formatted as a dramatic lecture, but it deflects boredom with a casual tone. The informality makes the audience listeners, not viewers, which is probably the best way to engender enthusiasm for his work. Read [...]
The Boston Globe publishes their review of Women of Will today, and in it Louise Kennedy calls Tina Packer’s work “an intensely theatrical experience”: "Drawing on her lifetime of acting in and directing Shakespeare’s plays, Packer combines the performance of scenes with the discussion of themes to create a dazzling and illuminating piece of work. [...]
“Shakespeare & Co's 'Women of Will' Commands Attention in New York Debut ” "After thrilling New York audiences with the Overview for the past two months, Packer and company will now offer 'The Complete Journey,' the complete edition of all five Parts over a period of three days, starting this Friday, April 5. The plays [...]
Original Article Women of Will — Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Book my trip to Lenox, Massachusetts. After seeing, and hearing, the magic Tina Packer, can conjure using primarily language, movement, and attitude, I want to see anything theatrical in which she has a hand, including her work at the seasonal Shakespeare & Company repertory she founded [...]
“Women of Will Review: A feminist bard” “…a beguiling, enlightening oddball of a performance and master class in Shakespeare and the socio-economic psychology of gender politics. Comfortably ensconced through the spring in the historic, ramshackle arts sanctuary at the Judson Church, Packer and invaluable co-star/sidekick Nigel Gore bring us happily into a selective five-part division [...]
“'Women of Will' offers non-traditional take on Shakespeare's strong women” "The word 'will' takes on multiple meanings in one of this season’s most hyped-shows. Conceptualized by, written by, and starring chameleon Tina Packer, 'Women of Will: The Overview' takes the stories of some of the strongest-willed women in William Shakespeare’s works. The play... is part [...]
“’Women of Will’ Offers a Female Perspective on Shakespeare” “Part English-literature lecture, part performance piece, Tina Packer’s “Women of Will” is a mostly enjoyable and enlightening overview of Shakespeare’s female roles. Packer, the founding artistic director of Shakespeare & Company of Lenox, Mass., and a skilled and precise interpreter of the Bard’s work as both [...]
