WHO WE ARE
Babes.
Blades.
The Bard.
What's not to love?
OUR MISSION
Vixens En Garde changes the narrative around both Shakespeare and femininity through comic story-telling and powerful swordplay.
OUR SHOWS
The premise of each fast-paced show is that the Vixens En Garde are in fact a mercenary band of “blades for hire”, and to make a little extra money between jobs, the Vixens try their hand at performing the best bits of Shakespeare’s works in 20 to 25 minutes—the famous lines, the fighting, and the romance! The Vixens take on the traditionally masculine roles and gentlemen from the audience are invited onstage to play the feminine roles, yielding highly entertaining gender-reversals, clever staging, fierce action sequences, and audience participation that always makes the crowd cheer!
The tone is very tongue-in-cheek and largely innuendo of the "if you know what I mean" persuasion, and while designed for adults, we have many families and young folks in our audiences as well.
Our repertoire thus far includes: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titus Andronicus, Henry V, Coriolanus, The Pirate Show, The Dueling Show, and more adaptations are being written!
OUR FIGHTS
All of our company members are trained fighters and stunt performers, so we use a large variety of weapons and change it up from season to season. To date, we have used:
Rapier, rapier and dagger, rapier and cloak, rapier and tankard, rapier and pretty-much-anything-we-can-get-our-hands-on, whips, broadswords, katanas, swords and shields, gladii, fisticuffs, daggers, knives, battle hammer, sjambok, spear, axe, lightsabers, WWF-style wrestling, Nerf crossbows, stunt puppets, mini trampolines, and a leek.
Smart. Strong. Sassy. Fun.
OUR INFLUENCE
Over the past eleven seasons, our fan base has grown exponentially across all genders, including an increasing number of young girls and their families. We are proud to provide an independent, smart, strong, and inclusive alternative to the “pretty, pretty princess” stereotype. We remind these young people that “You don’t need to wait to be saved by a prince—you can do the saving! A whole world of adventure awaits you, so go for it!” Many have taken this to heart, and have literally exchanged or accessorized their frilly dresses with tights and wooden swords, and become part of our cadre of VIT’s: Vixens-in-Training.
Although we never deliberately set out for this to happen, we fully embrace the fact, and are honored to promote a culture of respect, inclusivity, confidence, and self-worth.