A trip to Madison to see RSC
What high school English teacher wouldn’t show the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) Complete Works of Shakespeare–Abridged? And so I have (usually after hanging out with Hamlet for a couple of weeks) for my AP English Literature  and AP English Language classes. It is simply classic deconstruction of the Bard’s works and in the end, we the audience are better for it. For me, the RSC’ reminds us to not take ourselves too seriously, nor that thing we call “scholarly” talk. Instead, we are whipped through all the works in less than 90 minutes and by the end, we have experienced the range of Shakespeare’s works.
Some call it classical works for a short-attentioned audience; my sons just think it’s plain funny.
So, we surprised Colin and Evan by making the 4 1/2 trek to Madison, WI and saw Austin and Matt and Mick perform the “revised” version of the abridgment and I got a chance to share with Austin afterward how the RSC was part of my inspiration for last summer’s “40 Plays in 40 Days” project.
Most folks who follow the RSC know of their quality podcast and I bent Austin’s ear (and iPod) and got explain my project and its impact. You can hear the podcast here: Episode 158: 40 in 40. (Thanks Austin for listening and posting the interview).
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