Richard Creese's SOLEMN MOCKERIES Makes World Premiere with Independent Shakespeare Co. Tonight

The World Premiere of Solemn Mockeries by Richard Creese, directed by Jeffrey Wienckowski and starring David Melville, tonight, February 16 - March 10, 2013, playing Saturdays and Sundays at 5:00.

Come meet William-Henry Ireland, the original slacker.

He's unassuming, unpromising, and deemed "too stupid to educate" by his father. Yet somehow, this undistinguished teenager manages to pull off the literary crime of the century,

1790's London is fast-paced and cosmopolitan, and no group is more sophisticated and than the literati. They collect rare manuscripts and dramatic ephemera, attend the theater, and host high-minded salons.

In a stab at winning his father's admiration, William-Henry forges a note signed "William Shakespeare," his father's favorite author. By some miracle, this note is accepted as genuine, and William-Henry is inspired to new heights of deceit.

His masterwork is a forgery of a "lost" Shakespeare play called Vortigern, which debuts at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. The performance goes from bad to worse, starting with the audience's unfortunate response to a leading man's nose and ending in a riotous pelting of the stage with rotten fruit and vegetables.

In Solemn Mockeries, William-Henry looks back over twenty years, making a confession with an ironic wit that is trained on himself as well as the inflated egos of those who believed in him.

This one-person performance features David Melville, an actor the LA Times calls "simply riveting."

Performances take place at Independent Studio, 3191 Casitas Ave. #168, Los Angeles. Tickets $20 (students $15). Purchase tickets HERE or call (818) 710-6306.

Sarah Airess designed this great old-timey poster. Check out the whole thing at our website. The chap next to the poster is the one and only William-Henry.

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