Tonight, we (ussuns plus ellipticcurve) went to go see “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” at the Repertory East Playhouse in Newhall CA (part of Santa Clarita, for those unfamiliar with the area). This play, which starred Jason Goldberg, Bill Quinn, and Doug Stuart, had it start in the early days of the Renaissance Faire, and has since gone professional (well, if you can call it that). Although it still shows its traces of the Renfaire origins, we found it delightfully funny. The first acts covered all of Shakespeare’s works except Hamlet, including Romeo and Juliet, Troilus and Cressida done as a cooking show, 16 of Shakespeare’s comedies collapsed into one, the Histories (plus King Lear) collapsed into a football game, Othello done in rap, the Scottish Play done in a scottish accent, and the others collapsed somehow. The second half consisted of four performances of Hamlet. Funny, funny, funny. It should be noted that Rep East will be doing free Shakespeare in the Park during June, with Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark.
We discovered this playhouse through Goldstar Events, which offers half price tickets. We’ll be going back there again. Other plays in the Rep East’s 2006 season are:
· I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (March 10-April 16)
· Don’t Dress for Dinner (May 12-June 17)
· Project Footlights (July 14-16)
· Black Comedy | The Real Inspector Hound (July 28-September 2)
· {proof} (September 22-October 28)
· Santaland Diaries & Seasons Greetings (November 17-December 23)
I’m particularly interested in “I Love You…” and “{proof}”.
Down the street from Rep East is the Canyon Theatre Guild. They also have an interesting season, including “To Kill A Mockingbird” (1/27-2/25), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1/28-2/25), Oklahoma! (3/24-4/30), Arsenic & Old Lace (6/2-7/2), The World of Beauty and the Beast (6/3-7/2). We may try one of these shows to see what they are like; alas, they aren’t on Goldstar.
