Thy Woman’s Weeds

“Frailty, thy name is man.”

Lady Capulet wants to look younger, while Goneril longs to play Lear. Viola is weary of her “woman’s weeds,” and Desdemona needs an intimacy coach. As a director tells Lady Macbeth to sexualize her unsexing, Ophelia stages her death to escape Denmark—all while a chorus of actresses get candid about what’s happening behind the scenes.

Daringly irreverent and innovative, Erin Shields doesn’t hold back in this fierce feminist examination of Shakespeare’s canon, exposing how his representation of women plays out in rehearsal halls, dressing rooms, and social dynamics behind the scenes. Neither a love letter nor a breakup text, Thy Woman’s Weeds is a collective scream giving voice to the unwritten verses of Shakespeare’s iconic characters and the women who play them.

AUTHOR

Erin Shields

Erin Shields is a Canadian playwright based in Toronto. Much of her work highlights the negation or misrepresentation of women in classical texts by adapting these stories through a feminist lens for a contemporary audience. Erin has won numerous awards for her work including the Governor General’s Literary Award for If We Were Birds and the Quebec Writers Federation Prize for Paradise Lost and The Millennial Malcontent. Other plays include Jane Eyre (Citadel Theatre), Piaf/Dietrich (Mirvish Productions/Segal Centre), Beautiful Man (Factory Theatre), The Lady from the Sea (Shaw Festival), and Instant (Geordie Theatre/YPT).

Reviews

“Shields’s brilliant, deep delve into Shakespeare’s works is Thy Woman’s Weeds, a ferociously funny, irreverent yet respectful homage to his most notable female characters . . . Both fiercely entertaining and disarmingly educational to those who might not be Shakespeare aficionados. Those who are afraid of Shakespeare should NOT stay away.”