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May 16-22, 2002 artpicks Razing the Bard
TheaterThe Reduced Shakespeare Company will flit through Philly for four performances of their now-famous very funny show. The Complete Works makes Cliffs Notes look both longwinded and reverent, since here several actors perform all the roles in all of Shakespeare's plays and throw in most of the sonnets for good measure. The whole business takes about an hour and a half. The wigs are intentionally pathetic, the costumes worse and the props beneath contempt, but the comic timing should be impeccable. The show flip-flops between witty and slapstick, and should amuse anybody even slightly familiar with the plays -- from high school students who have just struggled through Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet to serious Shakespeare fans. The Reduced Shakespeare Company has done shrinking violence to many famous lengthy works, including the Bible and Wagner's Ring Cycle, and, coming soon to a theater someplace, the world premiere of The Reducers, an abridgment of all the great books. This is also an occasion to see how well the Perelman works as a theater space (its inaugural show was a discouraging start); maybe this will be a new and frequent theatrical venue on the Avenue of the Arts. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Thu.-Sat., May 16-18, Perelman Theatre at the Kimmel Center, 215-893-1999, www.kimmelcenter.org. | ||||||||||||||||||
