The Improvised Shakespeare Company is a theater group that performs improvised Shakespearean masterpieces based upon audience suggestion. The group claims they have memorized no lines–making up the lines and play as they go along and weaving together a comedic masterpiece performed for the first and last time, with new masterpieces created at each performance. The group is critically acclaimed, touring around the country providing their own take on Shakespearean plays and making audiences around the world guffaw in laughter. On Friday night I had the privilege of attending one of these performances hosted by Chatham University, and here’s how I ended up nearly dying from copious amounts of laughing.
1. Audience Suggestion
The first thing the company does is ask the audience for play title suggestions. This can be a wide range of things, all of which seem to be either clever plays on Shakespeare’s works or random things thrown together. For the performance I was at, it was the latter in which remained victorious. The masterpiece for Friday evening was the wonderful, oddly compelling “Helicopter Shoes.”
2. The basis on Shakespeare is quite loose, but that’s perfectly fine
The speech and characters are very Shakespearean, and the play “Helicopter Shoes” takes place in the universe of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” However, if you were expecting them just to make fun of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” you should have left those expectations at home, because that is not the performance you’re going to get. Instead, you’re going to get Helena, a helicopter-like maiden twirling around the stage in efforts to enrapture Theseus, and much more odd humor to come.
3. Just going with the flow
No matter what happens, the group will use it as part of the act. This can mean anything from interesting dance sequences and the creation of new words such as “Dod,” the new past tense of dead. For example, during the performance of “Helicopter Shoes” Oberon is about to send out his fairies to find him a bride, giving them gifts to bestow upon her for when they find a fair maiden. This was done through an impressively on-the-spot choreographed rap number where Oberon is rapping about his desires and the fairies creep around him whilst catering to his demands. Not only was it entertaining to watch, but also fit the characters of Oberon and the fairies a bit too well.
4. A masterful use of chairs
At the beginning of the performance three chairs are placed on the stage in a line. Now, for this performance, it didn’t seem as if they would use them much given the setting was the woods from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” but they will find a way. For this performance, the chairs were often used for a running gag in which the fairies placed chairs upon sleeping, knocked out, or dead characters as a type of prank, with the fairies laughing maniacally each and every time.
5. Interesting Plot Twists
Given that the play is entirely Shakespearean-based improv, some outrageous plot twists are to be expected. At the end of “Helicopter Shoes,” Helena has killed everyone on stage but Oberon in a fit of rage. Turns out, this was all part of Oberon’s plan as the first stage of the fairies’ war on man, Helena’s eventual spurt of rage and use of Oberon’s gifts to enact upon her desires all part of his plan. Helena then becomes the queen of the fairies, becoming accomplice in Oberon’s plan to create havoc and destruction in the human world.
6. You will laugh quite a bit, and you might hurt yourself doing so
The Improvised Shakespeare Company knows its audience and does their job well. I spent a good majority of the performance laughing and snorting, and sometimes gasping if something seemed incredibly outrageous. I can still feel the searing pain of laughter in my sides and I’m not regretting it in the slightest. My only question is: are you guys taking applications? Your job seems fun and I too want to wear a puffy shirt and getting the chance to rap as a Shakespeare character on stage.