Spoleto Festival - “George and George” – Premiere

The world premiere of George + George brings Festival favorites Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson back to Charleston for their third Spoleto collaboration. A comedic romp through the American Revolution, this inventive new work unfolds as a lively staged reading.  

Set at Valley Forge in 1778, George Washington rallies his ragtag troops by staging a British play about the fight for the Roman Republic, Addison’s Cato. There’s just one small problem: the play is forbidden! In fact, all theatre has been banned by the colonies. But seeing it as necessary to boost morale, George Washington commandeers his own troops to put on a show. They hold auditions. One by one the soldiers come in and vie for the juicy parts; and even though he’s not a very good actor, his men talk George into taking on the title role of Cato. After all, he’s fighting a tyrant in real life, certainly he can pretend to fight off the tyranny of Julius Caesar!

Meanwhile, there’s still a war to fight so these rehearsals are a bit of a challenge. Then, a bombshell. Someone (could it be Benedict Arnold?!) has blabbed to King George III that the rebels are performing Cato – only HIS favorite play – only the play in which he appeared as a 12 year old back in London! So KG3 decides he’s going to come incognito to catch the performance.  He also wants to meet this other George – to see what he’s made of – maybe they can sit down and talk things out – put all this nasty war business to bed.  

With sharp humor and theatrical flair, George + George playfully reimagines the founding era and the enduring ideals of democracy.

‍

5/29 @ 7:30pm; 5/30 @ 5pm; 5/31 @ 6:30pm