Put away your CliffsNotes, turn up your hearing aid (if you need
one) and listen very closely while all the great books from
”
Anna Karenina
”
to
”
Ulysses
”
to
”
War and Peace
”
and all between are spewed out in machine gun
”
Laugh In
”
fashion.
Put away your CliffsNotes, turn up your hearing aid (if you need one) and listen very closely while all the great books from “Anna Karenina” to “Ulysses” to “War and Peace” and all between are spewed out in machine gun “Laugh In” fashion. Instead of Rowen and Martin and Goldie Hawn, you have three really funny guys galloping through the literature with gay abandon. They create hilarious moments these plots would have never had if it weren’t for them.
Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor wrote this wild abridgement – and I do mean abridgement – Tichenor directed. They are joined by Dustin Sullivan to give the audience a remedial course in literature. The audience is informed that the scheduled professor was trampled at a J.K. Rowling book signing and the above mentioned three are going to take over the class. Pandemonium ensues with hijinks, puns, fast one-liners and little playlettes. The audience somehow recognizes most of the explanations and perhaps gets the zest of the plots that swing by with the speed of a herd of spooked cattle. The books are compressed, mutilated and discussed. Simply, these are funny guys that deliver with great timing with tongue very deep in cheek.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s first three shows, “The Bible: The complete Word of God (abridged),” “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)” and “The Complete History of America (abridged),” ran for nine years in Piccadilly Circus and became London’s longest-running comedies. “All the Great Books (abridged)” has been well received throughout the United States and Europe.
For an evening full of laughs and fast moving fun this show is for you. But remember you have to really pay attention.
Camille Bounds is the arts and entertainment editor for the Western Division of Sunrise Publications.
