Statespeare

I had the extreme pleasure of seeing this fantastic play one wet Saturday afternoon at the end of May. Statespeare starred four young actors from the Shake and Stir Theatre Company, I had not heard of them, but believe me, I will be keeping my eye out for them.

The play started with 2 actors in full bodysuits doing interpretive dance! Then a clichéd, odd drama teacher appears and addresses the audience as her class. She thanks the 'students' in the bodysuits for their interpretation of Justin Bieber (the wild years, or something like similar, I cannot recall!) She continues to address the class as the 2 'students' return dressed in school uniform - you immediately see they are class A geeks! The teacher then explains the subject matter for their next assignment: "Is Shakespeare still relevant?"

The geeks are very excited, but the excitement is short-lived when they realise they will partner up with 2 other students...2 students who are less than impressed with the assignment, school and everything else! They are D grade punks - the hair, tattoos, language and attitude. The interaction between the 4 is remarkable - funny, intense, touching and raw.

The play then takes you on their journey exploring various scenes (great scenes at that) from many, many plays from Shakespeare and in between they argue about what is or is not relevant. Most of the scenes are played out in Shakespeare's original language and done very well at that. Their discussions in between entertaining and engaging.

Statespeare is a wild ride - energetic, dramatic, hilarious and very well executed. The geeky girl channeled Tracey Flick from Election to perfection (possibly because she looked exactly like Witherspoon in that role!) and the un-geeky dude was the stand out performer - which showed how wonderful he really was as they were all brilliant. Add to that the great concept, witty script, Shakespeare's words and language, and stunning lighting and soundtrack - you can see why we left the Playhouse grinning ear to ear. Bravo!