I went to see the Reduced Shakespeare Company at the Koger Center. This particular play is the plays of William Shakespeare reduced into a couple of hours. It is designed to appeal to the general public, because the players use goofiness and a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor to educate people on the basic plots of the Bard's plays.
They condense plays such as "Hamlet," "Romeo and Juliet," and "That Scottish Play" as they call it. They go through all the "kings" such as "King Lear," "Henry IV" and "King John." They also go through "Othello," and perhaps a good example of the humor used over-all is in Othello. Shakespeare mentions that Othello is a "moor" and the actor portraying Othello comes out with boats tied to his neck. The play on words being the difference between "moor" (people from North Africa) and "moor" a place to tie up boats.
I believe the interpretation for this play lies in the Company's desire to spread Shakespeare to the general public. They get the audience involved, and because of the humor even children can understand the interpretation of these plays. The performance was fun to watch, and very engaging. The fact that it was free for USC students was also nice.
I love Shakespeare and the RSC (Reduced Shakespeare Company) managed to accurately portray the characters (albeit exaggerated caricatures of Shakespeare's characters) and the plot lines with humor in a really fantastic way. I would love another opportunity to see them perform again.
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