WITHOUT for one moment suggesting all Shakespeare productions should be as short as these two snappy shows, there are long nights when you wish it were so.
York Youth Theatre has come up with Shorthand Shakespeare, the bard bared to the bone, in the manner of those comic-strip book versions of his plays.
Jill Adamson, youth theatre education director at the Theatre Royal, had faced the age-old problem of finding plays with big casts and stories that appealed to a bunch of 11 to 13 year olds. "Well, Shakespeare has the best scripts, so we thought 'Let them use a Shakespeare script' and see what they come up with."
What the two groups of 20 have produced is two fun-sized bites of Shakespeare, each retaining the essence of these comic stories of romance, disguise, villains, fools and switched identities while giving them a modern twist that stretches beyond the pop soundtrack and stage wear of white T-shirts, bleached-out denims and canvas shoes.
On Lee Threadgold's airy and light set of wooden boxes, Chinese lanterns and blue drapes - the same design is used for both plays - Twelfth Night begins to the accompaniment of Girls Aloud's Sound Of The Underground. They are indeed in the Underground, the storm of the original play being replaced by a Tube crash brought on by a bomb alert.
Twelfth Night director Ged Cooper, the Theatre Royal education liaison officer for 2002-2003, retains snatches of Shakespeare's dialogue while accommodating topical references to the Euro and creating Club Orsini. Malvolio, (Alice Howard) meanwhile, updates yellow crossed-garters with fashionable yellow combats with those flowing wisps of excess material.
As for speed, what better way to pick up pace than the Duke (Oliver Calvert) giving Cesario (Leola Cruden Smith) a job, then asking "How long have you worked for me now?" "Three weeks," comes the reply. All that in under five seconds. So easy! Gone in 45 minutes.
Youth theatre project leader Sally Mowbray's production of Much Ado About Nothing is even quicker: 30 minutes of playful performing.
The tall Lydia Onyett and much shorter Owen Davies exploit their height difference to comical effect in the romance of Beatrice and Benedict, and the star turn is Luke Adamson, a cheeky natural comic but never a show-off as Leonardo.
York Youth Theatre, Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing, The Studio, York Theatre Royal, tonight and tomorrow, 7.15pm. Box office: 01904 623568
Updated: 14:14 Friday, July 11, 2003
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article