Bill Shakespeare's Italian Job: Edinburgh Fringe
Bill Shakespeare's Italian Job by Malachi Bogdanov: Cooperesque Productions Ltd and Gilded Ballon Productions. 18.00
Metro Gilded Balloon 'till 25th August 2003
Review: Mark Courtice, 15 August 2003
0131 226 2151 www.gildedballoon.co.uk
1 hour 15 minutes. No Interval.
Shakespeare blows the bloody doors offThree full sized minis on stage, a new text mined (mostly) from Shakespeare's own words and a reworking of one of the greatest caper movies of all time. What more could you want? Not much actually. This show has real pleasures that stem from the fact that all of the above come with confident acting, something to say about Shakespeare himself - and excellent jokes.
Bogdanov knows his Shakespeare and makes a good point that although he wrote a lot about Italy, William's actual knowledge was about as accurate as Michael Caine's. Bogdanov uses bits of tragedies as punch lines for jokes, and he creates echoes from the plays that precisely match the tone (and the events) of the Italian Job; after this it will be impossible to look at either in the same light again.
The set and props are great. It's typical of this show that there are not just the three cars but that they do so much. When I die I want my funeral to be just like Bogdanov's vision of Caesar's, for example. There are scale models, an Italian assassin who kills with a dip stick, and even a moment when a glitter ball is just what the lighting design needs.
The company are proper actors; energetic, funny and they keep the frenetic pace going, showing acting mettle that raises the whole thing to a much higher plain than the extended sketch that it might at first seem.Doing a production number to a Carpenters song (don't ask!) they give it lashings of style so it is more than just camp, for example.
Geoffrey Bateman should do Shylock soon and when he does, go and see it. Similarly, Gilz Terrerra lays claim that he could do Henry IV straight if he had to. Emma Kennedy was consistently engaging with terrific timing and fast, accurate character work.
This show has wit, erudition, and ambition as well as doing exactly what it promises from the outset. It's huge fun, and done with style and skill, so gives just that little bit more than expected.
With:-
Gilz Terrara, Juliet McGill, Geoffrey Bateman, Emma Kennedy and Tom Lister
Director: Malachi Bogdanov
Designer: Bruce French
2003-08-17 10:27:42