|
|
|
|
|
Getting to the other
side
The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged)The Reduced Shakespeare Company
Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton
**** SO why did, and, perhaps more
importantly, where and when did the fabled chicken of yore first cross
the road . . . and did was the other side ever reached? This, and other tantalising secrets of the comedy
universe, are . . . well not exactly answered, more shot at, by the RSC
trio who take us from the cave man to Cameron and Osborne with no-one
and nothing safe in between. Jesus and Abe Lincoln, for example, are perhaps
not best known for their stand-up, but put your hands together anyway. Nor is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a war
older than most of the earth’s population, usually seen as a (gun)barrel
of laughs, but perhaps that is because the peace process has not had the
benefit of the combatant leaders inhaling helium balloons for their
discussions. Even Hitler would have had difficultly being taken
seriously sounding like Joe Pasquale in overtight jeans. But perhaps it shows us that in comedy nothing is
sacred. Laughter is not only the best medicine, in some instances it is
the only medicine; the survivors of concentration camps told of the
jokes and grim humour that lifted spirits. Comedy, as American
Presbyterian minister, Prof Conrad Hyers, said, expresses a “stubborn
refusal to give tragedy and fate the final say.”. The Reduced Shakespeare Company have abridged the
history to a series of sketches, and, like any sketch show it is a bit
of a curate’s egg with not every sketch nor every joke quite hitting the
mark – although the trio were very good at getting a laugh out of even
that . . . in case you weren’t Canadian. And it wasn’t all, I say, I say, I say, good
clean fun either. Some of the jokes, some of the references and some of
the areas crashed rather than tip-toed into are conversation stoppers,
topics such as racism, racial stereotypes and religion for example –
which, conversely, raised some of the biggest laughs of the night. They are subjects which make people in the
audience uncomfortable – but that is the point. Comedy is not just about
jokes and laughs, it is to make people think, embarrass errant leaders
and authoritarian authority, prick pomposity, lampoon hypocrisy and, on
a good day, even start a revolution. This show is hardly academic and hardly a history
of comedy, on fact it never gives more than a cheery wave at a distance
to its subject, but it is fast, furious and very funny, and it will make
you think, and that, abridged of course, is all you really need to know
about comedy. Roger Clarke
28-05-15 The Complete Works of
William Shakespeare, the original Reduced Shakespeare Company
production, will be at the
Festival Theatre Malvern, Thursday 9th July, 01684 892 277,
www.malvern-theatres.co.uk
|
|
|
|
