A SPECIAL presentation marking the production’s 20th anniversary, “Revel’s World of Shakespeare” will be staged at the Antuoshan Public Cultural Center this month. Under the guidance of Joseph Graves, the acclaimed American theater director, Shakespeare scholar, and solo performer, this original English monologue returns as a heartfelt tribute to William Shakespeare.

The set is deliberately spare: a table, two chairs, a portrait of Shakespeare and a full collection of his works. From these simple elements Graves constructs a rich, intimate world. He tells the story of a bewildered 6-year-old boy who enters a London boarding school and encounters the brilliant, alcoholic headmaster Revel, a charismatic teacher whose passionate, military‑style devotion to Shakespeare shapes the boy’s life for decades.

“Revel’s World of Shakespeare” is written, directed and performed by Graves. Drawing on his extensive experience with Shakespearean performance, Graves weaves comedy and tragedy into a single voice. The first two years of the boy-and-headmaster relationship are riotously funny and tempestuous; what begins as confusion and shame slowly becomes an immersion in a world of love, poetry, regret and fierce devotion to the text. Over the course of the play, that bond stretches across some 40 years in memory and emotion.

The play frequently quotes Shakespeare’s lines, paying homage to the Bard while using those echoes to illuminate the characters’ inner lives. One particularly affecting moment comes when the elder Revel reads “All the world’s a stage” from “As You Like It” — a passage that has moved many audiences to tears and crystallizes the performance’s bittersweet tone. The piece’s emotional arc — from bewilderment and guilt to reconciliation and the tender but painful embrace of memory — resonates strongly with anyone who has been transformed by a teacher or a work of art.

“Revel’s World of Shakespeare” promises a comically moving and deeply human evening — a solo tour de force that blends laughter with sorrow, and theatrical craft with genuine affection for the greatest of English writers. Graves brings a performance steeped in knowledge, tenderness and theatricality — an intimate celebration of Shakespeare, of teaching, and of the ways art shapes a life.(Tang Li)

Time: 8 p.m., April 24

Venue: Concert Hall, Antuoshan Public Cultural Center, Futian District (安托山公共文化中心音乐厅)

Metro: Line 2 or 7 to Antuoshan Station (安托山站), Exit C