By Kenneth Jones
06 Jun 2008

Roger Rees
photo by J. T. MacMillan

American Conservatory Theater has booked stage, film and television actor Roger Rees' acclaimed one-man show, What You Will, for a July 18-Aug. 9 run in San Francisco.

"This hysterical (and somewhat historical) 90-minute gallop through all things Shakespearean" will play A.C.T.'s home at 415 Geary Street, San Francisco. Opening is July 21.

The solo play is an irreverent one-man show about everything there is "to be or not to be" about William Shakespeare. It includes "the greatest soliloquies ever written along with side-splitting accounts of the funniest disasters ever perpetrated on the stage. Romeo, Juliet's foolish Nurse, gory Macbeth, Hamlet, the oh-so-tragic Richard II, and even Charles Dickens, James Thurber, Noel Coward, and Stevie Wonder make appearances."

What You Will was previously presented at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, MA, and the Folger Theatre in Washington, DC.

What You Will is a presentation of American Conservatory Theater, in association with Evenstar Productions and LTM Artists.

Rees received international acclaim, garnering both Olivier and Tony Awards for his portrayal of the title role in the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. In addition to roles for the stage (he spent 22 years as a company member with the Royal Shakespeare Company), Rees' career includes many roles in film ("The Prestige," "The Pink Panther," "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," "Frida," "A Midsummer Night's Dream") and television (he was English tycoon Robin Colcord on "Cheers," and British Ambassador Lord John Marbury in "The West Wing"). Rees is an accomplished playwright and stage director. He was in San Francisco last as director of Here Lies Jenny starring Bebe Neuwirth at the Post Street Theatre.

For tickets and information call the A.C.T. box office at (415) 749-2228 or order online at act-sf.org.