Short Life of Trouble

Short Life of Trouble is a new play with songs featuring original text, text by William Shakespeare and William Faulkner, and the regional music of the South performed live by the ensemble. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Southern Gothic literature, and bluegrass and gospel music, it explores the human understanding of mortality, the influence of religious faith, and the tangled complexities of family bonds through the lens of the 1930’s American South. With a high theatricality, haunting melodies, and an earthy, visceral approach to language, the play floats freely through time and every characters’ innermost thoughts.