Renegade Bard presents the premiere of Sally Clark's "The King of Nothing", directed by Sky Gilbert.

This new work by iconic Canadian theatre artists will be produced in Stratford, Ontario, in the summer of 2027. And it needs your help to happen!

The plot

"The King of Nothing" is a comical tragical/comical play examining the Earl of Oxford’s tempestuous love affair with Queen Elizabeth I. It opens with the banishment from court of Edward de Vere (The Earl of Oxford). He must win his way back into The Queen’s favour and try to persuade Her to declare their secret love child — Henry Wriothesley — as the Heir Apparent. Elizabeth refuses. Her refusal leads to the end of the Tudor dynasty.

"This is a perfect year to produce Sally Clark’s play in the town of Stratford, because the Stratford Festival is recognizing the authorship question for the first time. Saul Rubinek will be acting in Playing Shylock, in which he suggests that Edward de Vere was the real author of Shakespeare." - Director Sky Gilbert

Who's Involved?

Written by iconic award winning playwright, Sally Clark

Directed by multi-award winning director and playwright, Sky Gilbert.

We'll be announcing the cast soon. Stay tuned!

The cost

Making theatre costs a lot of money! Especially independently. We are engaging some of the biggest stars in Toronto theatre from the 70's and 80's! We need to rent a dozen or so lights and build new scaffolding in the venue! We have to rent and provide a full audience set-up! Plus period appropriate costumes, props and sets. All while looking after our team and finding them each a comfortable place to stay during the show's run in Stratford. We intend to engage all our artists under the Indie 3.0 CAEA contracts, if not the ITA. Because all artists and creatives deserve a living wage.

Where You Come In

With your support and donations, we'll be closer to our intended budget, ensuring all of the above and more is met and we are able to provide you, our audience, with the best possible version of this new work. We are reaching out to our community to help us by donating to bring us closer to that goal. All the money you donate goes directly back into the production, and will not go into the pockets of any boards or producers. Your donations will be directly reflected on the stage.

How We'll Thank You

One of our many intentions with this show is to provide you all with an immersive experience from the get-go. This is a show set in the Elizabethan era, after all! We intend to provide all intended audience with a sliding scale ticket option. But you, our lovely donors, will also have some special thank yous!

Groundling

Puritans

Nobility

These categories will open up to all ticket buyers closer to the show opening, but you will have first dibs - so if they're gone when they open for everyone else, they'll all be for you!

We'd also like to thank all of our donors in our programs and online for their support.

If we receive additional funds, this will ideally include a card or small merch gift with a personal thanks from a member of the team.

Thank you for supporting independent theatre in Canada! Thank you for supporting aging artists who aren't done yet.