Shakespeare in Hollywood - a comedy by Ken Ludwig

German translation by Anita Lochner

On the Hollywood set of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", the celebrated Austrian director Max Reinhardt has his hands full in 1934. Producer Jack Warner is breathing down his neck, determined to cast his attractive but hopelessly untalented girlfriend and plant his own spy as an assistant on the production. On top of that, the humourless morality censor Will Hayes is watching his every move. Then, at the last minute, the actors playing Puck and Oberon drop out. By a magical stroke of luck, the real Oberon, King of the Fairies, and the mischievous Puck from Shakespeare's play land straight in the Warner Brothers studio and are hired on the spot. Amid the glitz of showbusiness, they unleash their love-potion flower on the stars and starlets with hilariously chaotic results. When Oberon falls for the actress Olivia - who is also being courted by Dick, the actor playing Lysander - the chaos is complete...

Ken Ludwig has been one of America's leading comedy writers at least since his Broadway hit "Lend Me a Tenor". In 2023, Theater Pforzheim staged a musical adaptation of that boulevard comedy under the title "Bajazzo darf nicht platzen" to great audience acclaim. With "Shakespeare in Hollywood", Ludwig now spins a witty screwball comedy of the supernatural kind - all cool sunglasses and sizzling Hollywood glamour.