A sham too long
SHAMLET
King's Head
WRITER Andrew Doyle last performed at the King’s Head as a funny man in the pub’s popular comedy nights.
His farce Shamlet sold more seats than any other show at its venue during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2003.
The show has been lengthened for the off-West End stage and the show, with its relentless barrage of cheap gags, has suffered as a result. felt more like watching a stand-up comedy act dying very slowly on its feet, than a dramatic piece.
The action starts with a group of actors planning a Shakespeare production in a small theatre near the bard’s tomb in Stratford.
Director Joan (Grainne Gillis), a fanatical thespian who speaks in Shakespearean verse, agrees to put on a play in Lithuanian theatre owner Mrs Slutska’s (Maxine Howe) fringe stage.
The story of a bunch of freaks putting on a shoestring fringe production seems innocent enough. But producer Marcus (Tom Walker), who is in cahoots with Shakespeare’s ghost (David Janson), has other ideas. He plans a raid on Shakespeare’s tomb – where his “lost plays” reside.
I see what Doyle is tying to do with his warts-and-all cast. He wants to reinvent Shakespeare, shaking off the stuffy stereotype, reclaiming the bard from romantic notions of Englishness – although the idea of finding lost plays is itself about as romantic as it gets.
Shakespeare’s ghost, a foul-mouthed geezer who treats his crude wife Anne Hathaway (Debbie Arnold) like dirt, typifies Doyle’s endeavours.
I liked the has-been thespian Isambard (Gregory Floy) and the insecure playboy producer Marcus.
But the rest of the actors were one-dimensional and a night like this cannot rely on gags alone.
I imagine regular King’s Head audiences will be left expecting a little bit more.
020 7226 1916
Until Sept 26
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