“Humor for Boomers,” read the posters advertising the Gag Reflex show for parents last weekend. Watching “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged” in the ’92 Theater, that phrase repeated itself in my mind, as I sat cross-legged on the floor looking up at the lucky older couples who snagged the chairs and laughed riotously throughout the performance.
While I wholeheartedly appreciate this spoof on Shakespearean actors, plays and scholars, and while I definitely applaud the actors who obviously worked ridiculously hard on this show, the humor of this particular production tended to escape me, although it obviously pleased the many parents in the audience.
As a spoof, this production calls for outlandish movement and exaggerated voice, yet throughout this performance, especially during the “Romeo and Juliet” segment, I felt as though the director, Jeffrey Goetz ’06, asked for subtlety from his actors. While the actors’ actions grew bigger, more exaggerated, and thus, funnier, by the end of the show (especially in the “Hamlet” scenes), the beginning failed to hold my attention.
Throughout the piece the director decided to include Wesleyan references, such as when the stage manager threw Justin Schmidt ’06 a pink furry hat instead of a crown and he said, “Well, I don’t know, ask Second Stage.” Perhaps the director thought these additions would appeal to the audience, but I found they forced an unwelcome choppiness to the show, and added an unprofessional element to the piece.
Another Wesleyan reference came up when recounting “Othello,” as an actor explained the difficulty in portraying it because the cast lacked “a person of color.” Schmidt then proceeded to hand out a basketball jersey and a gold chain and the actors “rapped” the story of “Othello.” Later in the show the actors “performed” Shakespeare’s comedies (which, despite this one particular element, I found very well-executed and funny), and commented on Shakespeare’s representation of Jews as racist. Perhaps I’m oversensitive, but I believe there’s an inappropriate disjunction in portraying Shakespeare’s writings on Jews as racist while including, in the same performance, a ridiculous rap obviously meant as a “black representation.”
With only three actors, and quite a few roles, “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged” demands an organized, prepared, and level-headed stage manager for the innumerable props and costume changes throughout the show. Julie Honan ’08 and Margaret Gullick ’07 managed wonderfully, allowing the actors to perform a difficult piece without worrying about extraneous details. Honan and Guillick’s performances behind the scenes allowed for the smooth transitions in the show, an absolute necessity for the humor in this production.
Despite the problems I perceived in this piece, I really applaud the actors, Anna Gevalt ’09, John Cusick ’07, and Schmidt. The same details of this production that necessitate an organized stage manager also command hard-working, dedicated actors to memorize a difficult script as well as complicated blocking. I found Gevalt notably impressive, especially considering that “Abridged” marks her first performance at Wesleyan. Another bravo to Cusick, who, as readers may remember from the Saturday night performance, noticed me busily scribbling notes on the production in the front row, and proceeded to embarrass the hell out of me.
While a performance of “Abridged” promises a night of fun and entertaining theater, the production requires few risks on the part of the director, a reason why this show is often staged in high schools. The conventionalism of the piece probably contributed to the laughing “boomers” in the audience, yet left me hardly chuckling. Obviously, not every show performed at Wesleyan needs a controversial element; I appreciate a night of pure, fun entertainment as well. Yet, perhaps the director could have taken a few more risks in staging and script additions to push the limits of the humor in the show, instead of sticking safely to conventional blocking and Wesleyan references. While pushing the limits and taking risks with the blocking and script could have left some parents cold, Wesleyan students might have more appreciated the humor and the production in general.
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