a great review from Boulder, CO
[Brian's note: ok, I'm posting this here without permission, but the daily camera's website requires a registration w/your email, so I figured I'd post it here, primarily for the UP folks who wanna see it]
http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/theater/article/0,1713,BDC_2515_3947344,00.html
It's Unexpected: A new show nightly
By Mark Collins, Camera Theater Critic
July 24, 2005
Much of this summer's Colorado Shakespeare Festival acting ensemble was in Wednesday's opening-night audience of "Unexpected Shaxpere!" - the season's fourth offering. On their night off, members of the CSF's three other casts were watching six fellow actors create what sounded like a Shakespearean play.
There were lovers overcoming obstacles, cross-dressing and mistaken identity, a bloody battle, a long-winded king and a shadowy character cloaked in a robe. There also was a gaggle of pre-school kids sent off to save the kingdom on skateboards.
The CSF actors, along with the rest of the audience, witnessed the wacky world of on-the-spot Shakespeare, Fake Bard, Master Thespian Theater - the improvised version. And they loved it. But they weren't the only ones.
One of the best things about the show is its wide appeal. You don't have to know the difference between "Henry V" and "Hamlet" to enjoy the shenanigans of "Unexpected Shaxpere!" There's something funny for everyone in the show - from the Shakespeare scholar to the preteen to the die-hard CSF patron to the uninitiated.
The improv troupe, based in Seattle, is at the CSF through Aug. 13, making up a new play during each performance. Opening night's "Unexpected" cast included Gabriel Denning, Randy Dixon, Jill Farris, Ron Hippe, Jeremy Richards and Elicia Maria Wickstead. Three other improv actors will filter into the cast during the run.
The group, which has performed improvised Elizabethan theater around the globe with Unexpected Productions, uses long-form improvisation. In long form, the actors must not only come up with their lines on the spot, but must build a story that includes several characters and plot lines, which are then brought to climax and resolution during roughly 90 minutes.
Before the play starts, a cast member greets the audience and asks it for a location, an object and an occupation. The three suggestions then become central to the play. Wednesday, the actors had to make a preschool, a skateboard and a cabinetmaker somehow fit into a play spoken in Shakespearean-style dialogue.
The preschool and cabinetmaker bit worked, while the skateboard never got rolling. But it didn't matter. What's really rewarding about long-form improv - and what the "Unexpected" cast understands - is there is more to it than going for cheap laughs. For the most part, the veteran cast avoids the temptation to always be clever or to upstage one another. They listen to each other (crucial in improv and any good acting), play off each other and let the story lines develop.
That's not to say there aren't laughs. Just the opposite. The show is filled with them. Sometimes they come from how an actor responds to an unexpected prop malfunction, or an unexpected turn a fellow actor takes. Other times it's the double entendres that come tumbling out of an actor's mouth.
It's also fun when an actor creates a peculiar sentence that sounds like one of Shakespeare's own. One of Wickstead's little gems Wednesday - "What can come from wandering, but finding that which hath not yet been found" - came spontaneously out of a moment on stage and carried the weight and lightness, depth and simplicity, that much of Shakespeare's language can. The audience roared.
There were dry spots in Wednesday's show, as there will be in long form. But the enjoyment from witnessing some new invention livened the audience after each slow section.
However, here's hoping the on-stage musical accompanist (Trent Hines) and lighting operator (Stephen Decker) will be more assertive as they become more comfortable. There were several moments in Wednesday's performance when a more pronounced musical underscore or lighting change would have aided the scene.
"Unexpected Shaxpere! is played on the massive set of this summer's "Othello." Most of the actors in CSF's version of the great tragedy about a jealous soldier could be heard laughing through the silliness unfolding before them Wednesday. They were very supportive of the improv troupe, but in the laugh, you could sense a sliver of envy. They have the opportunity to speak some of Shakespeare's great lines, embody some of the Bard's great characters. But wouldn't it be fun to be on stage making it all up?
Contact Camera Theater Critic Mark Collins at (303) 473-1369 or theater@dailycamera.com.
IF YOU GO
WHAT • "Unexpected Shaxpere!"
WHEN • 2 p.m. today and Aug. 7, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, July 31, Aug. 3, 5, 11 and 13, 11 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, 6, 12 and 13
WHERE • Colorado Shakespeare Festival, University Mainstage Theatre, CU-Boulder campus
TICKETS • $14-$19
INFO • (303) 492-0554 or www.coloradoshakes.org
Copyright 2005, Boulder Publishing LLC