The Improvised Shakespeare Show – ShakeItUp / The Other Palace Theatre, London
ShakeItUp provide audiences with murder, mayhem and merriment in The Improvised Shakespeare Show, delighting London audiences at The Other Palace Theatre ahead of an Edinburgh run.
The Improvised Shakespeare Show
Have you ever wished Shakespeare had penned just a few more plays? The History of Keith of Southend, for instance? Or The Comedy of Clarissa of Glasgow? Well a little trip to The Other Palace Theatre between now and Saturday will provide an unparalleled opportunity to experience not one, but two, brand new Shakespearean works.
The format is the brainchild of James Dart. Founded in 2018, ShakeItUp have brought their bonkers blend of Shakespearean comedy to audiences far and wide and are now making their Off West-End debut. The premise is simple. Ahead of the show, an actor will solicit lines from early bird audience members on little strips of paper. These come into play later. The audience then collectively selects a genre (comedy, tragedy or history), a main character, and a location. Armed with these paltry details, the company then come up with an almost hour-long work on the spot.
Our first offering was, as mentioned above, The History of Keith of Southend. A bloody figure, he challenges his brother Harold for supremacy over Southend’s famous pleasure pier, scheming to entangle him in a war with nearby Barking. Harold’s wife, imprisoned in the Hall of Mirrors, anxiously awaits her husband’s return, hoping for her pardon. You see, it works! Plot! Intrigue! Facts about Southend (sort of)!
The second work was a comedy. The Comedy of Clarissa of Glasgow, to be precise. Taking place on the roof of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery – which urban legend has it is back to front – a ancient and mystical Curator attempts to thwart a unique lover’s tryst that will not be denied. His secret name (Clive) spoken, he turns to dust, clearing the way for a happy ending for the young lovers. And also for Clarissa and a collaborative audience member. As in any good comedy, the world is put to rights once more. Once more we have a fairly cohesive and recognisably Shakespearean plot, invented on the spot.
Putting the Improv in The Improvised Shakespeare Show
The more astute amongst you may remember I saw another improvised play (called, as it happens, The Improvised Play) at the Arcola Theatre back in March. At the time, I commented that trying to improvise while structuring a play on the spot missed the best of both worlds: the spontaneity and the cohesive plot. The Improvised Shakespeare Show has one or two legs up which help it to avoid this pitfall.
Firstly, the cast is larger: five when I saw it plus Joe Prestwich creating a live accompaniment. This means the actors aren’t coming up with the play line by line, but have a little space between their scenes. They can think about how to keep the plot moving and to prepare some good quips and rhyming couplets. I think the other leg up is that it’s Shakespeare. We know the types of plots and characters to expect. We know the sound of the language. So as long as the company meet these expectations and we have a good laugh, we feel we are getting what we came for.
And do they? Meet those expectations? Verily, methinks they do. The Shakespearean language probably doesn’t bear too much scrutiny, but there are plenty of suitable turns of phrase, and even the odd line coined by the Bard himself. And as I said above, there is intrigue and plot! The usual Shakespearean confusions are tangled and put right. We are left with a great pile of bodies in the history, and a happy ending in the comedy. Satisfying indeed. And bawdy enough to make the Bard beam with pride.
A few neat tricks help to keep the laughs, and the plot twists, flowing. Firstly, crowdsourcing the title and location helps to seed a few facts which get good laughs when they’re woven in later. Southend’s dismal palm trees, for instance, or a back to front art gallery. Likewise the lines written by the audience, unseen by the actors until they whip them from their breeches, are ripe with comic potential. Both devices keep the evening in the realm of improvisation comedy first and foremost, rather than impressive feats of on the spot playwriting. It’s all the better, and funnier, for it. The audience, including myself, had a good old laugh.
ShakeItUp will be at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, but if you’re not planning to be there yourself then do go and see them limber up at The Other Palace. It’s a great premise and well executed.
Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5
The Improvised Shakespeare Show on at The Other Palace until 13 July 2024. More info and tickets here, and future listings here.