Instant Shakespeare
Young Chang
Actors from Orange Coast College’s Repertory Theatre Company
challenge anyone who ever thought Shakespearean works are drawn out
and boring to think again.
With a fast-paced (which is an understatement) program featuring a
45-minute staging of “The Comedy of Errors” and Tom Stoppard’s “The
15-Minute Hamlet,” a cast of 25 will present 62 minutes of slapstick
comedy this weekend and next under the umbrella title of “Supersonic
Shakespeare.”
The extra two minutes happens during an encore ending
characterized as the two-minute “Hamlet.”
“That’s why it’s called ‘Supersonic Shakespeare,’” stage manager
Binh Khuu said. “It’s very, very fast, and there are very, very short
lines.”
The shows, which were originally scheduled to run at OCC’s Fine
Arts Patio, will now be staged in the Drama Lab Theatre to avoid
noise from traffic and the Orange County Fair. Two 8 p.m.
performances have also been added for the Aug. 2 and Aug. 3
performances.
Director Alex Golson said the evening of Shakespeare will offer
viewers a more approachable attitude toward the Bard’s work.
“People just laugh like crazy,” he said. “It’s a good thing for
families to do, and it’s a good way to introduce kids to Shakespeare
without so much pain, without it being hours long.”
“The Comedy of Errors,” adapted by playwright Cecil Pickett, was
presented last winter by the repertory and is being reprised after
hundreds of theatergoers were turned away the first time. The story
of two pairs of separated twins, and the identity disasters that
follow, got pajama-fied for that version, as costumers created a
robe-and-flannel theme just for fun. This time, it’s a ‘50s theme
with World War II uniforms for the soldiers and retro sundresses for
the women.
“We also have a little kid’s bike, and we’re using a trampoline,”
Khuu said, of props for “Comedy.” The actors “ jump into the scene.”
The set and costuming for “Hamlet” is more conservative, though
the same can’t be said for the staging in general. It’s a play by
play of drama, highlighting only the most essential parts of the
original play in a fashion that makes the actors seem nothing short
of frantic.
“It’s funny because it’s shorter and the actors are panicked to
get through it in 15 minutes,” said actor Vincent Torres, who plays
Horatio in “Hamlet” and the Duke of Syracuse in “Comedy.” “To get
through every piece of the play out there as fast as possible.”
Some of the scenes include Horatio and two guards discovering
Hamlet’s father, the ghost; the marriage of Claudius and Gertrude;
Hamlet’s murder of Polonius; Hamlet’s rapid rise to craziness and the
death of Ophelia.
“It’s condensed to the bare minimum,” Golson said.
Squirt guns have been substituted for old-time swords, reducing
some of the famous sword fights into water fights.
“Most people are intimidated by Shakespeare, but this kind of
eases them into it,” Torres said of both plays. “It’s short and
sweet.”
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