This years fringe is host to a few shows that brand themselves as Shakespeare for the 'iPod Generation.' The 'iPod generation' being a euphemism for the apathetic youth with zero tolerance for anything longer than 2.46 minutes, so no shock that there is little in terms of length here. But this troop of dancers, actors and singers swept from various establishments manage to give us a fairly engaging and fun Shakespearean remix.
Over the hour we flick through Shakespeare's major tragedies and comedies and get given a compilation of choice snippets. As a concept you are right to feel dubious, these iconic moments are important, or at least loaded, because of their context: Macbeth's 'Is this a dagger I see before me' is little more than a famous sound-bite without the build up to it. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe that's what people want from Shakespeare these days. After all, who can forget that familiar cry echoed round the clubs on a Friday night; 'Forget all that character stuff - just skip to the bit where Tybalt gets twatted...we all know the first folio is rubbish anyway!' So for those who feel the problem plays are just too problematic and want to get a whistle-stop tour through the complete works then this is nice and light.
The show ticked the expected boxes of 'cool' theatre, slipping from Denmark to Verona with a little dance here and a Gotan Project track there, with a dusting of white face paint and physical theatre thrown in for good measure. There is also a noticeable effort to make it as sexed-up as possible. The implied message if pretty rad kids: 'Shakespeare is cool - we know this to be true because scenes happen in toilets of bars and chicks kiss other chicks... isn't iambic pentameter fucking awesome'. In fact, after a while I lost count of the amount of toungue jousting that occurred but safe to say that any colds would be thoroughly spread by the end of the festival. Whatever they spread between themselves their enjoyment and energy was defiantly infectious. So Baz Lurhman derivation and general cast promiscuity aside, it was frothy and pleasant fun. One moment which was particularly tickling was a meta-theatre muddle where a short scene from Hamlet collided with one from Midsummer. The result was a scheming Hamlet putting on the failed farce of the mechanics, his brooding plans somewhat falling flat. That 5 minutes had the potential to be a show in its own.
While some performers were notably stronger than others there was enough talent in the cast and company that I felt the need to see an actual play of theirs (Titus Andronicus) and I probably will. This though is Shakespeare light, Shakespeare diet. Good for those who are looking for a few ounces of flesh and not the whole pound.
