Shakespeare
concentrate

>> Repercussion squeezes all 37 Bard plays into one

by AMY BARRATT

Rumours of Repercussion Theatre’s demise appear to have been premature. The Shakespeare in the Park company’s SOS fundraising campaign has been successful enough to allow them to make an appearance in city parks this summer after all.

Appropriate to their (temporarily, we hope) reduced circumstances, the company has put together a production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Those of us who can cast our minds back to 1990 will recall that this show, performed by its creators, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, was a smash hit that year at the Centaur in association with Just for Laughs. It’s a hilarious journey through all 37 of the Bard’s plays in 97 minutes.

Repercussion’s production features a local cast and crew. The versatile Alain Goulem, founder of Clowns Gone Bad, those purveyors of clown-gibberish Shakespeare, directs. Goulem has been busy as an actor this season, appearing in infinitheatre’s Small Returns and Centaur’s A Moon for the Misbegotten.

The whole thing has been put together in a much greater hurry than usual. It was only once the accounting was done following Michael York’s benefit show for the company in May that they decided it would be possible to do something this year. Then it was touch and go whether Repercussion would get the rights to The Complete Works because a new North American tour of the show was in the works.

The show, which features only three actors, will be a lot less lavish than Repercussion’s usual fare, but artistic director Cas Anvar swears it will not suffer artistically. It’s important that Repercussion keep itself visible to the public, but at the same time, they usually lose money on the local leg of their North American tour. This year they’re only playing Montreal. Anvar explains that by reducing the size of the crew and keeping production values simple, they’ve cut their usual costs by 75 per cent. This means the tour of Montreal-area parks won’t lose money (though Repercussion still relies on your generous donations).
Anvar is very pleased with Goulem’s creative input and with the talented actors they found holding auditions late in the season. Jacob Richmond is becoming better known as a playwright, but he’s also a fine actor who studied at Concordia and New York’s HB Studio. Tadhg McMahon is an Irish actor trained at the Gaiety School and BADA, who has recently relocated to Montreal. Paul van Dyck trained at Queen’s University and has done a lot of work in children’s theatre in town. A fourth actor, NTS student Jesse Aaron Dwyer, understudies all three roles.

Repercussion still has a long way to go to regain its financial footing, but Anvar has nothing but gratitude for the “angels”—both in the artistic and business communities—who have come out of the woodwork to help. For his next fundraising coup, he’s working on bringing actor Christopher Plummer here in November to perform his one-man show A Word or Two Before You Go. :
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) begins July 26 with a preview performance at Beaconsfield’s Centennial Park and runs until Aug. 31.

Full tour dates available at www.repercussiontheatre.com or call 916-PARK. Show time is 8:30pm, free, but donations gratefully accepted

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