Dido, Queen of Carthage

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Jason Compton

Madeleine O’Keefe (left) and Julia Verstraete in "Dido, Queen of Carthage."

Madeleine O’Keefe (left) and Julia Verstraete in "Dido, Queen of Carthage," Madison Shakespeare Company, 2024.

The fanciful and multi-level outdoor climbing structure known as the Wonderground at the Madison Children’s Museum is the set for Madison Shakespeare Company’s summer production, and it should make for some inventive staging. The play is Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage, one of his least performed (it’s his first play, possibly written during his undergraduate days) but with hallmark Elizabethan bloodshed and sexual intrigue. Aeneas stops by Carthage on his travels and Dido falls in love with him. Suffice it to say things go south from there. The performance is suggested for adults and mature teens. Shows at 7 p.m. on June 28, 5 and 7:30 p.m. on June 29, and 6 p.m on June 30.

media release: Every evening this week (and twice on Saturday), the block around Madison Children’s Museum will echo with anguished cries. But it won’t be because of a skinned knee or a youthful misunderstanding. It will be the final, heartbreaking moments of the classic play Dido, Queen of Carthage by Christopher Marlowe, adding three more victims to the Trojan War’s fallout.

For the first time since Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra played Breese Stevens Field in 2013, a full-length Elizabethan play will be staged in Madison’s urban center. The first play of Marlowe’s tragically short career as a rising star alongside William Shakespeare chronicles a key chapter in the life of Trojan War survivor Aeneas. Washed ashore with just a handful of his fellow survivors, Aeneas finds the people of Carthage hostile at first. An unlikely alliance between Aeneas’ mother Venus, the Goddess of Love, and Juno, Queen of the Gods forces Dido to love and protect Aeneas at all costs, even the loss of her own position and prestige. Dido’s displaced suitor and Aeneas’ own followers resent his decision to stay, and the tension builds until it claims several innocent lives.

The production is a unique collaboration between Madison Shakespeare Company and Madison Children’s Museum, who have co-programmed several performances since 2016. The outdoor Wonderground play structure becomes the backdrop for the play, and the wraparound audience are the nobles of Carthage called to receive the mysterious wandering survivors of the Fall of Troy.

The performance is approximately one hour 45 minutes with one brief intermission, with performances June 28 at 7 PM, June 29 at 5 PM and 7:30 PM, and June 30 at 6 PM, and is designed for adult and mature teen audiences. South-Central Wisconsin audiences rarely have access to full-length productions of Marlowe’s work, making this a unique opportunity to see the play in a compelling setting.

Dido, Queen of Carthage features Madeleine O’Keefe (Twelfth Night, All’s Well That Ends Well) as Dido, Ben Seidensticker (Much Ado About Nothing, Henry the Fourth parts One and Two) as Aeneas, Heather Klinke (A Valentine’s Affair 2023) as Cupid, Kailea Saplan (Sudden Shakespeare: Hamlet) as Juno, and MSC newcomers Julia Verstraete as Anna and Sophie Weinsheim as Venus. Cassie Hankins and Jason Compton direct the production.