Saturday, June 16, 2018

Day 286-William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged)- Fancifully Hilarious Ride through Shakespeare –PPT-O’Reilly Theater



I  must  admit that I subscribe to the group that is not “Shakespeare savvy”.  During my school days, I used the  CliffNotes  to get through my required Shakespeare readings. I  enjoy  a good comedy  so I was willing to try The Reduced Shakespeare Company's comic  parody of  Shakespeare’s most famous characters and speeches in William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged). I was  intrigued to see how this three man show would mash-up  the tales and cover over 70 characters of this notable writer in 2 hours! 

Me, Austin Tichenor, Teddy Spencer, Chad Yarish, That's a fun looking group 

Reflection
I really did not know what to expect  but this play was witty, fast moving, and filled with   physical comedy. It was the pace and silliness that made it so humorous as these 3 friends made quick changes to perform Shakespeare’s long lost  first play. They found the old manuscript in a parking lot in England next to a pile of bones. We all enjoy this  fiction, as these three men try to reduce this 100 hour manuscript, written in Shakespeare’s hand (no  play really exists in Shakespeare’s script) into a 2 hour play.
Puck

The leads  in Shakespeare’s first play are the fairies Puck (Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Ariel (Tempest), not to be confused with Disney’s Ariel in the Little Mermaid. These two fairies are arch enemies and battle, adding mayhem into the lives of over 40 characters such as Juliet, Richard II, Lady Macbeth and Hamlet (view here).

This show contains  puns (which are definitely intended) and clever injected references to politics, movies such as  Harry Potter and Star Wars, and of course  Pittsburgh. It was the  jousting of these themes during  the constant action that produced continual punches of laughter throughout the show.





Three Wiches

I particularly enjoyed the dialogue of the  three witches with the  googly-eyed witch puppet and  Hamlet that just could not make up his mind, “To be or not to be”. This show was a little bit of vaudeville,  Saturday Night Live, and a Warner Brother cartoon all rolled up together resulting in a  fanciful hilarious  ride through Shakespeare!
  
William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged) at the O’Reilly Theater  runs until July 1, 2018. For tickets go to www.ppt.org 

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