Review by Rowan Macfie
I’m a Shakespearean Character! … Get Me Out of Here!
4 Jun 2011 in Dance & Drama, Highland, Showcase
Glenurquhart Public Hall, 2 June 2011
THERE has been many a time when, as a member of the audience at my local village hall, I have felt my heart sink at the number of empty seats. However, in Charioteer Theatre’s latest production, scriptwriter and director Laura Pasetti has used sparse attendance at local venues to the play’s advantage.
I’m a Shakespearean Character… Get Me Out of Here! is set on an island created by Prospero (Stefano Guizzi) to protect his fellow Shakespearean characters from the harsh reality of the modern world, where he claims that they have lost their importance because of television and computers.
But Lady Macbeth (Danielle Farrow), Hamlet (Cameron Mowat) and Puck (Lynn Dalgetty) are not happy, and want to escape to the world of the theatre in order to act out the parts that they were born to perform. Thus, Prospero agrees to give them one last chance of freedom in the form of a reality game show, in which the audience votes for the character that they want to set free.
I'm a Shakespearean Character! ... Get Me Out of Here!
The premise of a reality show, along with the meagre amount of spectators, allows for a great deal of audience participation. Over the course of the evening, we are rallied into pantomime style cheering and have microphones shoved under our noses.
The actors are completely at home on stage, and adjust to this level of involvement with witty repartee and improvisation. When my best friend Sapphire has to leave half way through, Prospero exclaims ‘See, no one cares about Shakespeare anymore. She’s running away!’ And we got to vote for our choice of winner – I went for Hamlet, a hand-down winner here (it would be interesting to know who won elsewhere).
The experience of being truly involved in the production reminds one that while actors must bring Shakespeare’s characters to life, it is up to an audience to let them survive. After all, what use is a play if nobody watches? With such excellent theatre arriving right on their doorstep, I only wish that the other people in my village had arrived at the same conclusion.
© Rowan Macfie, 2011
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Aye, Rowan, I have just seen the play at Lyth Arts Centre in Caithness – what an excellent, energetic and hilarious crew – and must strongly agree with you (and recommend it). Apart from this, any effort to bring Shakespeare’s timeless magic to audiences of all kinds, must be commended.
And may I add, that I went for Hamlet, too 😉