Review: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare--Abridged (The Reduced Shakespeare Company)

[nebroadwe]

Ah, the Bard. We can all quote him, but how many of us really know his work? Who has the time to read all 37 plays and 154 sonnets? Fortunately, the Reduced Shakespeare Company has done it for us! The three-man troupe of Adam Long (former anti-nuclear accountant and bassist), Reed Martin (former clown and minor league umpire), and Austin Tichenor (former director of actual plays) distills the entire Shakespearean oeuvre to its essence and presents it as a single night's entertainment, complete with all the fire-eating, vomiting and groin-kicking that so pleased the groundlings at the Globe! (Now with added Canadians!)

I'd heard several The Reduced Shakespeare Company's BBC radio broadcasts and enjoyed them, but I chortled non-stop through this live show. Whether they're "modernizing" Titus Andronicus as a cooking show (with utterly [in]appropriate nods to Emeril), rapping Othello, summarizing the history plays via football commentary, or workshopping Ophelia's closet scene with the entire audience, the company combines clever riffs on the original material with dopey slapstick and never lets up -- not even when one of their number tries to escape the theater just before the act break or another collapses in tears when the audience refuses to stop laughing long enough for him to deliver Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" speech. Not to be watched while drinking splorkable liquids. Highly recommended to lapsed English majors everywhere.

Comments

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i haven't heard about these guys in years. I've heard their BBC broadcasts as well

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

They tour, too! I'm considering whether to get tickets to one of the more-or-less local shows.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

They sound like someone I'd love.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

They even podcast (http://reducedshakespeare.com/podcasts.php)!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

good luck