Six actors have memorized all the roles. YOU choose which part they’ll play.
Such is the pitch sent to me by Folding Chair Classical Theatre, which I’ve included below. This could be interesting. I’ve been watching a bunch of improv lately, and it sounds to me like a similar sort of thing. “Ok, freeze! We’re about to see the entrance of the King and Queen of the fairies. Who should play Oberon? You, sir, blue shirt in the third row, which of these actors should play Oberon?” Although that does make me want to add “And now give me a style of movie he should play it in, style of movie….anyone….film noir! I heard film noir. Ok, Oberon, you enter in the style of film noir.” 🙂
Folding Chair Classical Theatre presents
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM by William Shakespeare
Six actors have memorized all the roles. YOU choose which part they’ll play.
Tickets $18 for all performances at www.SmartTix.com or call 212-868-4444
Folding Chair Classical Theatre takes Shakespeare’s comedy of magical transformation to hilarious extremes as our highly-trained six-member ensemble takes on all 21 roles in a madcap, fairy-populated, magic-filled slumber party.
But just to keep things interesting, the company will not know which set of roles they will be playing that night until right before curtain time. Each performance promises a different fairy queen in love with different ass-headed weaver, as lovers woo and fairies fight (and some guys just want to rehearse in peace) in all sorts of new combinations, to the stylings of a psyche-funkadelic score. Which casting will you see? We have no idea.
Director Marcus Geduld and Folding Chair Classical Theatre return to Shakespeare with the small-cast, big-adventure aesthetic they brought to acclaimed productions of “Pericles,” “Cymbeline,” “Much Ado About Nothing” and “The Winter’s Tale”. Join us for the magic!
Performances May 5-June 4, Thurs.-Sat. at 8PM, Sun at 2PM.Extra performance June 4 at 2PM.No performance May 8, 27, 28, or 29.At Access Theatre, 380 Broadway between Walker and White Street.
Tickets only $18. Click here to order or call 212-868-4444
I did see a version of Hamlet in which all the actors memorized several roles. They performed at midnight, and audience members chose who would play what by cheering. They also would have certain restrictions placed on them. For example, they had to use certain props instead of swords or never touch the ground. Perhaps they would switch roles halfway through. One of the most successful and haunting tricks involved several actors playing a role at the same time; I think that during the mad scene there were two or three Ophelias. However, perhaps I was tired, but I was a little disappointed. It wasn't quite as lively as I'd hoped it would be. The difficulty of the project seemed apparent.
There is another company with a similar concept doing a production of Twelfth Night — The Accidental Shakespeare Company http://www.indiegogo.com/accidental-shakespeare-company