Show Guidelines | Alabama Shakespeare Festival
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Show Guidelines

As a beloved arts institution, Alabama Shakespeare Festival broadens the cultural identity of the South by producing the classics, Shakespeare, contemporary plays, musicals, and exciting new works.

Per our agreements with theatrical licensing agencies, we are unable to alter scripts and agree to perform them as written.

We make every effort to inform our audience of any adult content or language contained in our productions; however, we recommend reviewing the following guidelines before selecting theatrical experiences for your family.

We value each and every one of our patrons and want to ensure each experience is a great one!

The following guidelines list any language, violence, drug/alcohol use, and mature content of each show in detail.

While age recommendations are provided, we respect the discretion of parents and educators in determining if material is appropriate for audiences younger than the recommended age. ASF is happy to review show guidelines with patrons as they make any determinations.

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY

This show is recommended for ages 7+

Language:

  • None

Sexual Innuendo:

  • The phrase “He’s making violent love to me, Mother” is said jokingly.

Drugs & Alcohol:

  • George gets drunk on one occasion in the script
  • Phrases used: “oldest champagne”
    • “…wine! That joy and prosperity may reign forever.”
    • “mulled wine”
    • “two double bourbons’
    • “rum-head”
    • (Uncle Billy) “familiarized himself with the spirits”

Violence:

  • None

Mature Content:

  • The script references a death by drowning.
  • The script references an unsuccessful suicide attempt
  • One of the characters is an angel who hasn’t yet received his wings.
  • Reference to bribery
JUBILEE

This show is recommended for ages 10+

Language:

  • The term “coloreds” is used
  • The phrase “Yankee nigra-loving school teacher” is used

Violence:

  • Reference to beatings, whippings, and lynching

Mature Content:

  • Discovery of Porter’s Slave Yard and description of what they found
  • Minstrel show, performed by company,” Jim Crow caricature”
THE TEMPEST

This show is recommended for ages 13+

Language:

  • Shakespearean verse throughout.
  • Language used: damn’d witch, hag, hag-seed, bastard, horse-piss, whores, ass

Sexual Innuendo:

  • Phrases like: “violate the honor of my child”
    • “would’t had been done!…I had peopled else this isle with Calibans”.
    • “she will become thy bed, I warrant. And bring thee forth brave brood.”
    • “but if thou dost break her virgin-knot

Drugs & Alcohol:

  • Drinking/ Drunkenness in comic scene with Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban.
  • Phrases used: “my drunk butler;” “he is drunk now; where had he wine?”

Violence:

  • Mild references to violence.
  • Caliban refers to Prospero’s cruelty

Mature Content:

  • One of the characters is a supernatural creature.
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

This show is recommended for ages 13+

Language:

  • Language used: shittin’, hell, damn, negro, ass 

Sexual Inuendo:

  • Mention of fornication

Drugs & Alcohol

  • Smoking cigars and drinking hooch

Violence

  • Reference to a man getting shot and dying, a character attempting to kill another character, a man being killed by a drunk driver, and a boy being killed in a sawmill accident

Mature Content

  • None
CLYDE'S

This show is recommended for ages 17+

 Language:

  • Language used: fuck(ing), muthafuckin, shit or bullshit, bitch, asshole, nigga, pussy, damn
  • Phrases used: dumb as shit, bitch ass sandwich, stupid ass, God Damn It
  • Characters use the term “Jesus” and “Jesus Christ” as an expletive

Sexual Innuendo:

  • There is use of the Spanish slang “Coño” (‘cunt’).

Drugs & Alcohol:

  • Clyde smokes cigarettes in the show.
  • There is a reference to a character who “smokes some weed.’
  • One character says to another, “Don’t get too high on dope.”
  • A character is asked, “have you been using” and there is a reference to a character having used meth during her pregnancy.
  • There are a number of references to “drunk.”

Violence:

  • Different criminal activities are referenced in the script.
  • Gunshots are referenced in the script.
  • A character uses the phrase “bend you over and fuck you in the ass.”

Mature Content:

  • This script refers to some events that take place in prison.
  • The phrase “squeeze my nuts” occurs in the script.
  • The overall subject matter and content is suitable to mature audiences.
CABARET

This show is recommended for ages 17+

 Language:

  • Language used: “bastard”
  • Phrases used: “each and every one a virgin.”
    • “It is a battle to keep them from taking off all of their clothing…tonight we may lose the battle!’
    • “a new tart ,you mean”
    • “to hell with Bobby”

Sexual Innuendo:

  • “Don’t Tell Mama” describes the character’s exploits on tour of Europe in which she leaves her companions and “lady chaperone’ to explore life on her own aided by various relatives—not her mama, however.
  • “Two Ladies” is a song about a menage a trois: “we switch partners daily to play as we please. Onesies beats twosies, but nothing beats threes.” …”there’s room on the bottom if you drop in some night.”
  • Fraulein Kost seems to be a prostitute; Schneider asks Cliff,” …are novelists interested in such persons?”
  • Sally refers to Max as “the man I am sleeping with–this week.”
  • Emcee refers to two of the boys: “only one way to tell the difference…I’ll show you later.”
  • The song “If you could see her (through my eyes)” features the Emcee romancing a female Gorilla, ending with the line “if you could see her through my eyes, she wouldn’t look Jewish at all.”

Drugs & Alcohol:

  • “Would you like to buys a girl a drink? Would you like to buy a boy a drink? “
  • Drinking in the club, the dressing room, at the party, etc.
  • Gin for Sally more than once, including while pregnant..

Violence:

  • Cliff is the victim of a brutal beating at the hands of Max’s Nazi thugs.

Mature Content:

  • The situations (sexual and historical) are mature and charged. The overall content is fraught and often disturbing. Ernst and Kost are, at least, Nazi sympathizers and anti-Semitic. We see the world of each of the characters being disturbed by the political climate and coming apart in most cases. There is no happy ending for any of them.
  • Cliff’s sexual orientation is unclear. “Are you homosexual in any way? Bobby says you are…did you and Bobby have an affair” “Did he say that?’ “He implied it.” (pause) “I see…”
  • Sally announces that she is pregnant, but it is unclear who the father is, although Cliff says he could be. There is an extended conversation about who the father may be and clearly this not the first time Sally has been to “that awful doctor.” In Act 2, Sally has an abortion, paid for with her fur coat.
  • Emcee appear in full drag at the top of act two in a number with the KitKat girls.
  • At the end of the show, Emcee appears in a concentration camp prisoner uniform.
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