Wash your Shakespearean humor down at Berkeley Springs Brewing Company this May.
photo courtesy of SCOTT RILEY
A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ENTERTAINMENT EXPERIENCE is on tap in Berkeley Springs this May. It’s a two-weekend run of Courting or Henry V Part 2.0 at The Ice House theater in Berkeley Springs and the simultaneous availability of SaxXxon Steed Ale at Berkeley Springs Brewing Company (BSBC).
It all started when the playwright, Scott Riley, penned a comedic reboot of Henry V. He’s a longtime fan not only of Shakespeare, but also of the Marx brothers and Monty Python, and his play lands firmly as ribald comedy. “King Henry the Fifth,” Riley explains in summary, “the great warrior king of England, has a 20-year-old wife—and he’s lost the key to her chastity belt.” It’s a set-up for lots of Elizabethan-era laughs.
Debuted in Cumberland, Maryland, in August 2023, the play earned Best New Play or Musical in Maryland in the 2023 BroadwayWorld Baltimore awards. On that first run, Riley, who’s a homebrewer from way back, hoped to persuade a Cumberland-area brewery to make a batch of his old red English ale recipe in conjunction with the play. Scaling a homebrew recipe up to commercial volume can be tricky, and he found no takers. But this time around, Karl and Denise Wagenbrenner at BSBC, always game to try something new—beer bittered with tea leaves instead of hops, for example, and hop-infused spring water—jumped on it.
SaxXxon Steed Ale, named for the tavern in the play, is available now at BSBC. Around the time of the play—May 8–11 and 15–18—look for related fun at the brewery, like actors in costume on-site and a Henry V–themed dinner to go with the beer.
Tickets for the play are $15, with discounts for students and Morgan Arts Council members.
138 Independence Street, Berkeley Springs, macicehouse.org/theatre, @icehouseartistscoop on FB; 110 Michigan Lane, Berkeley Springs, berkeleyspringsbrewingcompany.com, @bathwaterbrewpub on FB
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