Shakespeare is considered the greatest writer of the English language, and as I found, there’s a place where you can see all of his works in one night. Well, kind of.
Damian Gillen is the Artistic Director for the Company Theatre, and he is enthusiastic about their ability to pull off the complete works all in one night. Ah, but there's a twist to how they do it. "All thirty-seven plays in 97 minutes by only three actors!" he proclaims.
While the idea is a bit preposterous, it’s a popular return engagement of this show done by the Company Theatre. They're not based out of a specific building, but take their drama and humor to various venues, including restaurants for dinner theater. Gillen detailed what they do.
“[It's a] hilarious script, and we’ve been bringing it to the River Walk for…I believe this is our fifth year now.”
I asked him if it was a little light on the death and the mayhem and the ghosts, and a little heavier on the humor of Shakespeare?
“Oh, a lot of humor, but the death and the mayhem is probably the funniest part of Shakespeare. It’s kind of like Monty Python meets Shakespeare, it’s a lot of fun,” Gillen explained.
It’s being produced on April 4th at the Arneson River Theater at La Villita. As Gillen explained, that comes with its share of challenges.
"The stage is on one side of the river and the audience is on the other side, so we have to deal with river boats riding through the performance. And that’s always a lot of fun."
I asked what theater-goers can expect, and he says it’s family friendly and plays well to wide audience types.
“They say that this is a play that if you love Shakespeare, you’re going to love this play, and if you hate Shakespeare, you’re going to love this play.”
The Arneson gig is a one-time only performance.
For more on the Company Theater: http://www.thecompanytheatre.org/
