Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)

Take 3 professional actors, some current topic events, improvisational humor mixed in with Shakespeare, and you come up with a show that entertains both non-Shakespeare and Shakespeare fans alike. Rob Currier, co-founder of the Marin Shakespeare Company (MSC), directed “The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)” at the Forest Meadow Amphitheatre in San Rafael. It was well received for MSC’s season weekend opening. The theatre is a lovely area to view outdoor theatre. I would recommend that you bring (or for a mere rental fee of $1 at the box office) a stadium seat pillow for the comfort of thy bottom. The three actors fully engaged the audience with their antics. I had the impression that they must had a ball at rehearsal. The audience shared their joy of slap stick comedy and outlandish frivolity.

The play has been widely produced throughout the country and in Europe (and in other languages). I love some of the touches that MSC had provided in their production. The three male actors wear zany colorful converse sneakers that humorously clash with their Shakespearean garb. Costume designer, Rebecca Redmond, added some whimsical flavor with the lavish jester hats. Redmond added some ribald humor as well with the dresses that the male actors wear when they “camp” as the bard’s famous heroines. Set designer, Bruce Lackovic, kept the stage unimposing but similarly whimisical. Kudos should go to the hard work of the stage hands.

Ryan Schmidt welcomes the audience as he admonishes people to turn off cell phones and explains the exits procedure. He presents a very original pre-show spiel of its own kind. Then seasoned actor, Jarion Monroe, enlightens the audience on the profound influence of Shakespeare. He does so in a farcical manner. Monroe boasts the morale of the audience by mimicking a gospel sermon. The humor ensues as the third performer Darren Bridgett leaps from the audience on to the stage in jeans and a Hawaiian shirt. Darren Bridgett rides with the audience throughout the show. His improvisational skills are extraordinary. As the audience is invited to interact at times, Bridgett takes their comments and geniusly bellows them into great comebacks. It is the essence of “living in the moment” for comical theatre.

My favorite part of the production happens in the second act when they attempt to tell the entire saga of “Hamlet.” Schmidt portrays the typical self-absorbed actor preparing for the famous “to be or not to be” speech. His facial expressions are priceless. He seems rather too young to be familiar with Ernie Kovac, but he possesses Kovac’s style. (Anyone at least ten years older than 40, please feel free to correct me on Kovac.) At the end, they speed through the action in two minutes, and then in reverse with Schmidt chiming out “question the is that, be to not or be to”. It was an amazing and flowing endeavor.

I enjoyed the references to Shakespeare and the political humor, yet some of the jokes were perhaps skating on thin ice. Though the audience seemed to enjoy the three white actors made out to be rappers, I question the script’s choice in cross-referencing Othello’s African background with rap culture. Anyone is welcome to civilly comment further on that.

However, I was not utterly deterred from enjoying the production. It lends an opportunity for Shakespeare fanatics to introduce their not-so-bard friendly acquaintances to Shakespeare’s works. All the world is a stage and we are merley players, so hence, get thee to San Rafael, and I say, we shall have no more bard cynics.

The production does not drag its feet, and the audience is by no means bored with intellectual rhetoric. During intermission, Monroe does a concise 3 minute rendition of the Wizard of Oz. That is not to be missed.

www.marinshakespeare.org or call box office @ 415-499-4488

Be Sociable, Share!

•