Perfectly joyful silliness at the hands of the master of the English language
ShakeItUp: The Improvised Shakespeare Show put on a masterful performance of raucous laugh out loud fun. With improvised comedy being a tough nut to crack, and even harder combined with the language and tropes of Shakespeare, the ShakeItUp cast had taken on a hard task. However, they absolutely rose to it, bringing the whole audience along a journey of fun and frivolity.
Before the start of the show, one of the cast collected sentence prompts from the audience and each member of the cast took a few to use during the show. This got the audience in the mood for fun by inviting them in to the creativity. As the show starts, it’s also up to the audience to decide which classic Shakespeare format they will see, a comedy, a tragedy or a history. From there a few more details are decided by the audience and then off the cast go.
The hilarity ensued with references to the audiences chosen location for the performance. On this occasion the audience chose Southend-on-Sea and the cast wasted no time in using the facts audience members had shared to add to the comedic effect. Where there were uncertainties about the factual correctness of what the cast was saying about Southend, they made light of this, making fun of the informal nature of the show.
Given improv is made up on the spot, something I noticed was that each cast member used the dramatic pauses really effectively. Whether this was to give time to think or it was done for effect, it worked smoothly and added hilarity rather than awkwardness. The cast also had the perfect balance of making up silly sound effects throughout the performance, announcing “shing” as they pulled out a pretend sword for example. This was used with perfect balance of comic timing, without becoming overused or weary. The delightful use of improv in this show was that just when you thought you knew what direction the performance was taking, a cast member would change the narrative which kept the audience on their toes and once again received well-earned laughs.
Given that the performance was billed as improvised Shakespeare, I had my concerns about how this would be managed with the challenges of Shakespeare’s language but the cast excelled! Regular use of rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter, as well as plenty of nods to famous Shakespearian lines, it was an impressive feat to keep it up and not get carried away with the improv. Plenty of moments were also used to poke fun at the Shakespearian tropes in a tongue in cheek manner, keeping the performance lighthearted.
Given this show was a double bill, we were lucky enough to get both a history and a comedy. The protagonist of the second performance was one of the characters in the first performance, and even though they got their name wrong at one point, the audience were so bought in to the performance that it was greeted with laughter rather than any judgement. Cast members made sure to pick up on one or two other references to the first performance which showed their skills in engaging with the audience. It was so impressive to remember what worked well in the previous performance whilst continuing to make up the current performance on the spot!
ShakeItUp are a masterful troop, and whilst the show was all about the laughter, their skills and professionalism really shone through. The show is on at The Other Palace until 13th July and will also be at the Fringe this summer. This is a must see to bring the joy and laughter that we all need.