Last night on PBS, my wife found a performance by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. It’s hands-down one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.
The performance they showed was the “Complete Works of William Shakespeare,” which runs through all of Shakespeare’s plays at breakneck speed. Sometimes high-minded, sometimes quite lowbrow… but perhaps the most amazing part is the fact that the players know the material well enough to make fun of it aptly. They play with the audience and really make it fun, with a few serious moments here and there. Brilliant stuff.
If they did the sonnets, I missed it. Their version of the Comedies was pretty clever, though – taking the common elements of all the Comedies and amalgamting them into a single play. Similarly, playing most of the Histories as a quick game of football was pretty amusing.
Their versions of Hamlet are amazing… yes, there’s more than one. They start with a version about 10 minutes long, then a version somewhere between 1 and 2 minutes, then a 30-second version, then a backwards version… just priceless. The first appearance of the “ghost” in the longest version had me literally rolling.
They’re performing “All the Great Books” in Seattle right now, and I hope to go see them before they’re gone. Has anyone else seen them, live or on television? I’d recommend them highly if you haven’t.
R Call me but love and I’ll be new baptised
J Call you WHAT?
R Call me but love and I
J Call you Butt-Love?!?
In the comdey synopsis they explain that all the women in WS comedies fall into two catagories.
Mindless simpering bimbos
and
Ball busting Shrews
I really loved the life story of WS at the very begining. I was howling.
You can also get tapes of a six episode radio series they did for the BBC. There’s a lot overlap with the stage show, but a lot of new material too, which ranges from lame to hilarious.
We saw them in Chicago, and I can’t recollect ever having laughed so hard. The little Godzilla had the audience in stitches, laughing hysterically for perhaps ten minutes (no exaggeration!). I also saw them in London, where the audience was, um, stiffer, and it wasn’t as much fun.
They also do a Complete History of the United States (abridged) that has some hysterically funny stuff.
Meh. I love the concept but the execution didn’t do that much for me. (Though the “Dem Kings” song from the radio version cracks me up. :D)
Anyway, I think I’m about the only person in the world who’s not that crazy about Reduced Shakespeare, and it’s really not because I’m a humorless Shakespeare purist, because I’m not. It just sorta left me cold, although parts of it were very funny – the conflated comedies, and some of the Hamlets. Perhaps that’s because I’ve only seen it on TV, and it’s undoubtedly better live?
I saw “The Complete Works” in London. I thought the first act was excellent, the second so-so.
They did some riffing on the audience that was top-notch that I doubt you’d see in the TV version. There were some kids who snuck into one of the unoccupied balconies, and the actors started playing to “the muppets” as they called them. And then they played on that by called them moppets and it was all so very clever.
Avalonian, the time I saw Reduced Shakespeare, they dealt with the sonnets by writing them all down in teeny-tiny letters on a 3x5 notecard, passing it around the audience until everyone had read it. The actor was trying to kill time as the other two were fighting about whether or not they were going to go through with the Hamlet portion of the show.
I saw these guys in college and they were hilarious! They were in town this year, but I had to miss them. I’ll throw in another vote for their Hamlet being the best of the lot, but the whole show was great.
First I ever heard of them was when I came across a copy of the play at Barnes and Noble. I bought it, loved it, but lent it to my aunt who then fled with it to New Zealand, and I haven’t seen it since.
Three years ago, I was in London and saw them live. Twice: once for the Shakespeare, and once for their Complete History of America. Great shows, both of 'em. The audience was quite lively in spite of being British. I actually said something during the “Questions from the Audience” period that got a big laugh, but I forget what. I’m pretty sure they were laughing with me, too.
That’s the impression I got as well… that each show is probably a little different, depending on audience composition and other things.
And to answer your earlier question, Exapno, I didn’t get much information on the program because I came in a little late. I’m pretty sure that the show was in Vancouver B.C. and they were definitely performing “The Complete Works of Shakespeare,” but not much more than that… sorry.
SmackFu, there was some audience improv with the performance I saw, too, though obviously a little bit different. They did like the kids (one kept trying to protect a kid in the front row from “sensitive” stuff, while the others kept trying to show him), and one of the guys pretended to vomit repeatedly into one audience member’s hat throughout the show.
My favorite audience bit was after they explained the process of the “fast” Hamlets:
Thanks, Avalonian, maybe I’ll catch the PBS show some fine day, although, hmmm, it is also out on VHS.
This page has all the RSC products - in all media - for sale.
But when I said four different productions, I didn’t mean just performance variations on Shakespeare.
They’ve also done:
The Complete History of America (abridged)
The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged)
The Complete Millennium Musical (abridged)
All the Great Books (abridged)
Seen 'em all except for The Bible. Great Books is the current tour, and is Great Fun, although maybe just a shade short of Shakespeare. I got invited to the party afterward and managed to talk with all of them. (Know what was really on their minds? A snafu with British distribution of their products. Artists are all alike.)
Is it necessary to be really familliar with Sharespear to enjoy the show? My has never read any and I’m wondering if she’d enjoy it (The show, not Shakespear itself).
