Great The Reduced Shakespeare Company Complete
At the time I am writing this review, I am a college junior pursuing an English major. I was introduced to this comedic troupe completely by accident when I heard explosions of laughter coming from my next-door neighbors dorm room. I wandered over to see what was so funny at 2:00 am and walked into a sight that I still laugh at to this day.
Four of my best friends were sprawled around the room laughing their heads off at something on the TV. I glanced over to see what they were looking at, and found them watching the "Hamlet" portion of this DVD. I sat down to watch it with them, and even though I had no clue what was going on, and had just been woken up, even I was forced into hiliarity by this performance.
The next day I returned to their room (soda in hand)
and watched it again with them from the beginning, laughing so hard that at one point I actually spat out a mouthful of Diet Coke all over the carpet when they pulled a part icularly funny joke. Since then I have been a fan and have watched this movie more times than I can count, and I now own my own copy.
You do not have to know Shakespeare to understand this show. The three actors (Reed, Austin, and Adam) take you on a rip-roaring, side-tickling, laugh-out-loud adventure into Shakespeare's work in only 90 minutes, and it doesn't even seem that long while watching the show, because you are so easily distracted by the slapstick humor and complete and utter lunacy of this show.
What I do find interesting is the attempt at the beginning of the show to put on an air of seriousness and thus throw off the thought that this is a comedy. Austin gets up on stage and does a five minute ramble on "stepping into the future" and "placing a copy of the Complete Works into every hotel room in the world". Adam does a remarkably funny spiel about Shakespeare's life, badly confusing it with Adolf Hitler, which is the first indication of this crazy ride.
From a condensed version of "Romeo and Juliet", to "Othello" performed as a rap, to all of the histories in one fell swoop as a football game, this three men are talented at keeping you off-balance and laughing the entire way.
I highly recommend that anyone even looking at these reviews invest the money and buy a copy of this DVD or VHS. You will not be disappointed! However, I also suggest that you do not eat or drink while watching this production, unless you (inevitably) wish to find yourself cleaning up spilled food and drink at the end, as I did when I first saw this movie.
It was sort of like a summary of the play; the entire thing was only a few minutes and quite amusing. I watched it in my ninth grade english class.
ReplyDeleteOr seen one of their DVDs? I think they are the funniest theatre troupe of all time and my favorite play of theirs is "Completely Hollywood". How about you?
ReplyDeleteA local theater is about to hold auditions for The Reduced Shakespeare Company's Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged and I am looking for the perfect monologue. The director has restricted the auditioning age to 18 (which I am not), but he said that I have been given a special opportunity to audition. The condition is that I have to blow him away with my audition. My monologue has to capture everything I would be able to bring to the role and show everything i can do that would fit the show. In case you aren't familiar with the show, the Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is a parody of the plays written by William Shakespeare with all of them being performed (in shortened form) during the show by only three actors. Typically, the actors use their real names and play themselves rather than certain characters. The fourth wall is nonexistent in the performance with the actors speaking directly to the audience during much of the play, and some scenes involve audience participation. The director and stage crew may also be directly involved in the performance and become characters themselves. Improvisation plays an important role and it is normal for the actors to deviate from the script and have spontaneous conversations about the material with each other or the audience. It is also common for them to make references to pop culture or to talk about local people and places in the area where performance is done. As a result, each performance can be vastly different from another, even with the same cast.
ReplyDeletePreferably a comedy, and no Shakespeare please. We want something light and fun because someone has died in all three of our plays this year (John Lennon and Me, Romeo and Juliet, and West SIde Story). My teacher takes suggestions for future performances so give me some ideas to pitch. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot on it's history but I need to know exactly what it was please... This is urgent!!
ReplyDeleteI saw some ,,behind-the-scene'' interviews of various films and I keep hearing directors say stuff like : Actor X really knows how to work with the script". What does that mean. Is it like taking notes on the script and improvising with it. How does an actor "work" with scripts?
ReplyDeleteI may be going to London in the summer, and I really want to watch some musicals. Which do you think are must-watch musicals?
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