Shakespeare

A head of state believes he has been betrayed, despite all evidence to the contrary. He sets out to destroy his perceived rival and ruins many people in the process. So begins William Shakespeare’s late-career play, “The Winter’s Tale.”

Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, “Hamlet,” has inspired some memorable adaptations (“The Lion King,” anyone?), but “Fat Ham,” opening at The Huntington this month in association with Alliance Theatre and Front Porch Arts Collective, is unlike any audiences have seen before.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company presents “Macbeth” in its annual Free Shakespeare on the Common production. On stage July 19 through Aug. 6, the play transforms the grassy knoll near the Parkman Bandstand into a spectacle of intrigue and violence driven by a powerful pair hungry for still more power.

Shakespeare’s themes of love, loyalty and identity have resonated with audiences for centuries. Now, Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP) is remixing those themes with hip-hop beats and rap battles in “The Bomb-itty of Errors.” This contemporary rendition of Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors” runs at The Charlestown Working Theatre in Chelsea through June 26.

When Whitney White first encountered Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, she fell in love. Here was a character who was ambitious, decisive and powerful, a relatable contemporary woman. This fascination with Shakespeare’s female characters has led to “Macbeth in Stride,” running at the American Repertory Theater Oct. 23 through Nov. 14.