Spectator - THECOMMENTARY.CA

Wednesday, 09 December 2004

Shakespeare: reinventing the myth

By Brian Nguyen, for THECOMMENTARY.CA

A Condensed Review for The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)

It was funny. You should see it.

The End.

And now, the uncondensed and more pretentious version of Brian's review:

"In the future, the attention span of the average human being will be two seconds."

- Breviloquent Dandy, insipid punk rocker (1923-1985)

It was inevitable. Faced with seeing his plays relegated to the musty bookshelves of aging scholars, Shakespeare decided to update his works for a modern audience. He began slowly, of course, initially penning West Side Story under a pseudonym and selling the script to Arthur Laurents. From here, he secretly financed Franco Zeffirelli's film rendition of Romeo and Juliet, although he himself expressed his displeasure at not seeing Paul McCartney in the role of Romeo. From here, it was a short hop to New York, where he spent much of the 70's helping to develop the then-underground punk movement. In 1980, having finally beat a three-year addiction to love, and having divorced his wife Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare came across a struggling trio of comedians who were out of ideas for a twenty-minute skit to perform at the Renaissance Fair outside of San Francisco. Fully aware of how television had increased the speed at which information could be delivered to viewers, he helped the trio-Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield-to create a fast-paced 20-minute version of Hamlet. Purists cried foul, accusing the trio of tampering with the greatest English tragedy of all time, but Shakespeare was dismissive of their criticism. "Thou foul-mouth'd serpent doth drink too much from the cup of sorrow," he reputedly said to one, deliberately mocking the poor fellow's insistence upon maintaining antiquated English. In reality, Shakespeare could speak the language of the average '80s teenager with consummate skill; in 1982, he co-wrote Frank Zappa's popular song "Valley Girl."

Wait a minute. Why are you rolling your eyes? Is it because I've taken Shakespeare and placed him into incongruous scenarios? Doesn't it say something damning about our society if writers like me feel the need to make historical figures like Shakespeare more interesting for our readers by either placing them into conveniently modern situations, or by giving them modern sensibilities that we can easily identify with? The answer? No, no it doesn't. Every generation inevitably tries to update historical figures to make them more easily understood to a modern audience. Shakespeare did it with his plays (see Shakespeare's Sources: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sources/, although this is, in no way, a criticism on his originality), and those five hundred years from now will no doubt feel the need to update popular figures and stories from our time. Gandhi as a peace-loving intergalactic space traveler? Wait for it.

But I digress. Our journey with Shakespeare ends in the 90's, where he met great financial success helping to fund and pen both Baz Luhrmann's modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, and the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love. We travel back in time to our motley crew of Adam, Daniel, and Jess, whose 20-minute version of Hamlet was becoming more and more popular at the Renaissance Fair. A one-hour version of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) was performed for the first time in 1987, and its popularity flew like a bat out of hell. From here, our boys began to tour around the world and in 1991, became successful enough to quit their day jobs and begin working full-time on the show. In 1996, the script was released in America, allowing both professional and amateur groups from all over the world to perform the play.

Say goodbye to our three comedians. At some point in time after 1996, we must conjecture that the Arts Club Theatre obtained the script (probably not through unscrupulous means, which would make our tale much more interesting), and the rights to perform the play. Fast forward to 01 December 2004, at the Granville Island Theatre, where I'm now watching this comedy for the first time. Instead of our original three, we now have Toby Berner, David C. Jones, and Brad MacNeil performing onstage. What little is known of their sordid histories is provided in the program booklet, but I can certainly tell you this much: they never met Shakespeare. He told me himself when I called this morning.

All of the plays-with the exception of one, which I'll get to-are used in the first half. Romeo and Juliet is left intact-albeit with vast portions of the original text ripped out-but Shakespeare's other, works are deliberately rewritten for the sake of comedy. For instance, Titus Andronicus is turned into a cooking show, and all the historical plays are combined into one skit where all the world's a football game, and all the kings merely players. Othello is turned quite successfully into a rap song, although I can't tell if their attempts at hip-hop dancing are deliberately campy to elicit laughter, or if they really just can't dance. Unfortunately, I'm a little dismayed to see Shakespeare's comedies combined into a quick sequence of exchanges between Toby, David, and Brad-if any part of the script deserves to be rewritten, this is it. The first half ends with Toby and David running off, ostensibly, because David doesn't want to perform Hamlet, and Toby has to chase him-and Brad is left to stare blankly at the audience. He does this for about five seconds too long, in my opinion, and should spare us the trouble of waiting for him when we know the intermission is coming up.

The second half of the play is devoted to a very fast skit about Shakespeare's sonnets, and to Hamlet. Of particular note is the audience participation scene, where two members of the audience are brought onstage: one to scream, and the other to run back and forth like a dog chasing its tail. The rest of the rowdy crowd are divided into three groups and are given phrases to hoot and holler when given the cue by David. It's all in good fun, and people seem more boisterous for the remainder of the performance. The initial Hamlet skit is amusing, but the next two (the second is done at a faster pace, and the third is done in reverse) strike me as superfluous. I would prefer seeing the extra time devoted to one of Shakespeare's other plays, or to his sonnets.

"That," to quote my irreverent friend Mr. Joe Planta, "pretty much sums up the whole bag of beans." He's walking with me through the cool night air, and babbling about the brilliance of his recent review for the play Funny Girl, while I reflect on the performance I've just seen. The costume changes were skilfully done, with no noticeable pauses during skits while each actor switched characters. The acting was splendid, and David Jones stole the show with his portrayal of the various female roles in Shakespeare's plays. If ever there was a reason for men to begin wearing women's clothing, this man is it-with all due respect to Tim Curry, of course.

As a teaching aid, English teachers will find this play indispensable in generating discussion amongst their students about Shakespeare and his works, and they would be wise to make their students skip, jump, and prance to the Granville Island Theatre as quickly as their eager young legs will take them. Those just looking for a good laugh will be equally amused, as there is enough ribald humour, slapstick, and wit to produce guffaws from those who can't tell a couplet from a tristich.

What's left for Shakespeare? I plan to ask him this very question in an interview tomorrow. No doubt, he'll chuckle and tell me that the best is yet to come. Locked within his lovely rustic villa in the Alps, he continues toiling away, working on literary gems that will reveal the true power of our language. I'm told he's even started learning some Korean. Is there anything this man can't do?

***

Leaning back in my seat, I stretch my legs and yawn. It's been a long night, and my review has taken several hours already. I rise, and thread my body gently through the darkness of this house. I am a shadow weaving through soft strands of nocturnal light. I stumble at the stairs, and instinctively reach out- my arms flailing wildly in front of me. My hand catches the cool mahogany staircase, and my body slides slowly downwards, as I hang on for dear life. Somewhere down below, the pounding at my door grows stronger. I pull myself back up, and shuffle quickly across the porcelain floor. I open my door. A ghastly visage is waiting outside to greet me. He growls softly, "Telegram," and presents a hand filled with dirt, and half-eaten by maggots. In it, I see a small note written in blood. I read it and immediately turn pale with fear. Mephistopheles is calling. Shakespeare is dead.

***

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) runs until Saturday, 08 January 2005 at the Granville Island Stage of the Arts Club Theatre. For tickets and information visit: http://www.artsclub.com; or call TicketMaster, 604.280.3311.

***

Notes:

1. For more information regarding the origins of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), see http://www.reducedshakespeare.com/play_by_play.html

2. The term "bat out of hell" comes from a song of by Meatloaf.

3. There was no punk rocker named Breviloquent Dandy. Shakespeare created him.

4. Shakespeare really is dead. Sorry to disappoint you.

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