Reviews of Past Productions
Information from reviews help the director, designers, and
actors get a handle on the play as well as suggest some ideas for further
development. In this case (as with, for
example, A Greater Tuna or A Tuna Christmas, which CATCO has
produced before—see http://greatertuna.com/atc/tunaxmas.htm) there is a web site maintained by the
playwrights. Some of the reviews
excerpted in that web site appear below in their original length.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Reduced Shakespeare site:
http://www.reducedshakespeare.com/america.html
From
the RSC web site, an indication of how others see them and they see themselves(?): (I
have underlined some key words/phrases.)
THE
COMPLETE HISTORY OF
600 Years of
History in 6000 seconds! From Washington to Watergate, yea verily from the
Bering Straits to Baghdad, from New World to New World Order, the three
cultural guerillas of the Reduced Shakespeare Company will take you on a ninety
minute rollercoaster ride through the glorious quagmire that is American
History.
The RSC tackles such controversial questions as: Who really discovered
"An
apt description of what the company does is intellectual vaudeville.
They are smart, cheeky clowns who present themselves as a collective repository
for most of American mass culture." Stephen Holden - New York Times
"What the "Daily Show" might be like if it
were hosted by the Marx Brothers." Robert Nesti
- Boston Herald
"History has never been this much fun. Or as delightfully mutilated." Bill
Brownstein - Montreal Gazette
"The trio succeed in
condensing the history of
"Irreverent yet informed, the three performers
apply a steady stream of sight gags, sound gags, even smell gags to a broad canvas, turning sacred cows into laughing-stocks
along the way. The deliberately loose edges of the show camouflage its
careful structure, in the same way the trio's ease with improvisation hides
years of rehearsal." Jeanne Cooper -
More...
More Reviews...
"A
slapstick tour that's as hysterical as it is historical." Bob Mondello
- Washington City Paper
"The
Reduced Shakespeare Company cheerfully run riot over 500 years of our country's
history. During this manic,90-minute program, they
mine dozens of landmark events and trends for comic gold. The trio's nimble
tongues, rubber-limbed pratfalls and obvious street-performer smarts make this
a merry, nose-tweaking outing." Pamela Sommers - Washington Post
"Breathlessly
paced, slapstick merriment." Stephen
Holden - New York Times
"A
common sense review of a show named The Complete History of
"This is smash and grab history-comedy at its brashest,
delivered with breakneck speed by three hilarious performers. Nothing on the
liberal-conservative spectrum escapes. Inspired lunacy."
Marianne Evett - Cleveland Plain
Dealer
"The
Reduced Shakespeare Company compresses 500 years into 90 minutes of inspired
lunacy. This History offers an unceasing
barrage of explosive punch lines, visual and verbal puns and scattershot
slapstick. Moreover, the Company hits its targets nearly every time. There is
method in the madness of these goofy guys, who have pioneered their own wacky
genre while drawing upon such surreal antecedents as Firesign
Theatre and Stan Freberg. Ninety minutes of such
perceptive, hip and hilarious mayhem isn't enough." Michael Grossberg - Columbus Dispatch,
"Likable
and frequently ingenious." Ray Conlogue - The Globe and Mail,
"I
laughed so much at "The Complete History of America (abridged)" that
I didn't take enough notes to write a review the lazy way, by ripping off their
best jokes. So I have to go to work and try to explain what they do. Not that I
fully can. On paper, the three comics of the Reduced Shakespeare Company may
sound like silly, sophomoric smart alecks, whereas they're actually... well,
exactly that, but with fully-engaged brains and a purposeful glint in their
eyes. These inspired parodists are so good that they play the accordion and
they're still funny. And it's never as
sophomoric as you think. The RSC technique is to lull you into condescension
over some bit of obvious undergraduate foolery and then whipsaw you the other
way with a flash of original intelligence or surreal fancy. They belong in
select company." Christopher Rawson - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
"The
funniest act in show business. I laughed my head off." Jerry
Friedman - KGO Radio,
"These
blokes are iconoclastic satirists, and their targets
here - when they actually aim for anything more than laughs - include
everything from old-fashioned American jingoism and paranoia to the tortured
language of political correctness. The trio are ace
comedians. Their double takes, silent byplay, antic physical energy, and
spontaneous mountebank style are masterful." Nelson
Pressley - Washington Times
"Who
said that vaudeville is dead? The capacity audience found the trio
irresistible." Dennis Cashman
- New Haven Register
"Lively,
smart, funny and low - that about sums up the Reduced Shakespeare Company's
"The Complete History of
"Mad,
but brilliant." Geoff Hill - News Letter, Belfast
"The
Reduced Shakespeare Company asks who really discovered America, why Mrs.
Lincoln didn't enjoy the play and how many Democrats does it take to screw in a
light bulb . The answers? I
forget - I was too busy laughing." Grania McFadden - Belfast Telegraph
"Sacred
cows all over the United States have, no doubt, been ducking for cover since
The Reduced Shakespeare Company started its cavalier romp through The Complete
History of America (abridged). Nobody who comes under their spotlight escapes
unscathed. But where this slick, intelligent and altogether hilarious
production gains extra brownie points is in its benign satire and exceedingly
sure touch." Jane Coyle - The Irish Times,
"This
troupe knows how to skewer the not-so-admirable moments in our history and, not
only make us laugh, but make us think. It's the funniest two hours I've spent
in a long time." Shirley Mathews -
Connecticut Post
"Funny,
clever, slick, absolutely honestly right-on politically, and with a very sharp
script. The pace is fast and the team
are definitely talented." Joy Hendry - The Scotsman,
Edinburgh
"They've
still got it. The Reduced Shakespeare Company continues to deliver delightful
satire at breakneck speed." Gina Perille
-
_____________________________________________________________
http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/152
The Complete History of America
They keep on going don’t they? It’s 12
years since the Californian Reduced Shakespeare Company first knocked
Shakespeare into 90 minutes on the
Yes, you must have at least heard about those clever American
clowns with their boundless energy, enthusiasm and eye for the odd penetrating
gag. And perhaps one should really take ones hat off to them.
I know they may not be to everybody’s tastes. Having seen all
three of their “abridged” plays - Shakespeare, the Bible and now
But it is really hard to dislike them or not find them
occasionally engaging - even with
500 years in 90 minutes, it
charts the discovery of the
The second act, concentrating on the twentieth century, does the
World Wars and the Cold War years.
The more unpleasant face of
But it was the last few touches I found most memorable. We had a
“Conspiracy guy” cleverly sending up all the dodgy aspects of
The depiction of the fifties through an extended radio play was
also a neat touch, cleverly resonating the fact that
in its short time on earth the
It was also pretty warming to hear that the bile-ridden
idealistic genius, the late Bill Hicks, is an eternal hero of this lot. You cannot
possibly dislike them after that. Can you?
____________________________________________________________________________________
Criterion
March 12, November 9, 16, 23, 30, December 7, 14, 21, 28, January 4, 11, 18, 25 2005
The Complete History of
|
|
Date: November 16, 1999 Hilarious
History
|
|
Some people call it
self-confidence. Some people call it chutzpah. I
prefer to call it aplomb. And when three actors have it, they can get away
with anything. Whatever
you call it, it's there in force in The Complete History of America (abridged),
the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival's extravagantly ridiculous comedy,
which purports to tell the entire story of this nation in less than two
hours and which three lesser mortals would never be able to pull off. Luckily,
the Shakespeare festival has given us Philip Nolen, Tom Taylor and Richard
B. Watson. And they have aplomb -- big-time. This
wild little comedy doesn't present quite as fertile a ground to mine as its
predecessor, The Compleat Works of Wllm Shakspr (abridged),
which the festival's audiences have adored for two seasons past. But
under Eric Hissom's direction and his cast's
inspired clowning, Complete History still makes it three hits in a
row. Created
by three writers, Reed Martin, Adam Long and Austin Tichenor,
who call themselves the Reduced Shakespeare Company, this show is history
Rocky and Bullwinkle-style -- fractured, with no desire to get it right
and a concerted effort to offend. Humorless historians might bristle, and a
few right-wingers will get their hackles up over not-so-loving references
to Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms. Everybody else will roar. Think
of the story of the founding of A
lot of this nonsense is in the script. But a lot of it has to come from
director and actors, and this is where the festival scores. Hissom, who just finished a run in the title role of
Macbeth, seems to have unleashed all the pent-up silliness he kept
under wraps during the run of the Scottish play. And the actors take his
lead and run. |
Nolen, a regular at Disney's
Comedy Warehouse and one of the trio who brought
the 1997 production of Compleat Works to
life, is filled with a peculiar form of panache that makes him look
downright regal, whether he's playing the accordion or turning himself into
Betsy Ross. Richard
B. Watson plays his characters, from Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan,
with a kind of game-show-host suavity: Imagine Alex Trebek
hosting Queen for a Day, as Watson does here, with Trebek's ever-so-slightly patronizing sneer. And Tom
Taylor makes a hilariously endearing dumbbell, a vacant-eyed character
striving mightily to keep up as his cohorts race
two or three mental steps ahead. The
intrepid costume designer Jack Smith has given the three men appropriately
silly bits and pieces of attire to add onto their basic blue jeans and
Colonial-style vests: They look especially fetching in white fright wigs
topped by tricorner hats. And the rest of the
production -- - setting, lights, sound and so on -- is as smoothly
professional as the festival's audiences have come to expect. Every
once in a while the authors show they've reached their limits with American
history, which isn't as consistently uproarious as the works of William
Shakespeare when you're looking for something to make fun of. This show can
be a little off-putting when it acknowledges that fact: There's nothing
like a mention of Anyway,
there's not a lot of point in analyzing Complete History, which
resists being taken seriously almost all of the time. And there's no point
in giving away too many of its jokes -- except to say that the cast grants
equal importance to Gilligan's Island, Anne Murray and the show's
corporate sponsors, that somebody reveals the surprise ending to a current
hit movie and that anybody wishing to go home as dry as they arrived may
want to avoid the splash zone. Complete History is nothing more than "a
Post-it note on the refrigerator of |
|
Date: November 16, 1999 All the
History in a Humorous Production
|
|
The Orlando-UCF Shakespeare
Festival, best known for its classic dramas, takes a turn for the humorous
in this production of The Complete History of This
play was written by Adam Long, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor,
the party responsible for such over-the-top historical farces as The
Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged) and The Bible: The Complete
Words of God (abridged). It offers the viewer 500 years of American
history over the course of one two-hour performance. Those with an abject
need for things to be historically accurate should skip this show. Time is
off the essence here, and fact will be sacrificed for the sake of fitting
everything into the allotted duration. |
It also offers its three person cast the chance to run the gamut of comedy by
letting each each cast member play a wide variety
of historical figures. Every few minutes, the scene and characters will
change into the next step on the time line. This
play is a must for fans of American politics, history, sharp humor,
slapstick and wonderful, talented acting. |
|
Date: November 18, 1999 Placing
History into Lowbrow Perspective
|
|
Don't expect a standard lesson
from "The Complete History of America (abridged)." In the
tradition of Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival's hit of the past two
seasons, "The Compleat Wrks
of Wllm Shakspr
(abridged)," a trio of bumbling buffoons -- Philip Nolen, Richard B.
Watson and Tom Taylor -- make this comedy truly soar, as they skewer the
nation's roots to superb comic effect. Loosely
scripted by Reed Martin, Adam Long and Austin Tichenor,
the three members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company (who released their
not-so-patriotic pastiche upon Like
a series of fast-moving sketches, "TCHOA" remains consistently
funny as the In
keeping with Shakespearean-style word play, "TCHOA" is filled
with puns and groaners. One of the most inspired and silly bits concerns
anagrams formed out of the letters in "American," and a lewd
arrangement created out of the name of the infamous Spiro Agnew. |
Although the majority of this
material, and its inventive and solid interpretation by director Eric Hissom, stands firmly on its
own, the actors still work wonders. Nolen,
so memorable in "Compleat,"
once again shines as he leads his moronic troupe of historians through a
little bit of fact and a lot of fiction. Especially enjoyable are his
double takes and looks of incredulous wonder at the antics of his compadres. Looking
like the long-lost twin brother of Michael J. Fox, Watson is blessed with
comic timing, best displayed in a sequence in which he interacts with
audience members in a "herstory" TV
quiz show reminiscent of "Queen for a Day." The players quickly
learn there is only one right answer. Festival
newcomer Taylor provides a charming gullibility in a role that calls for
him to consistently and comically annoy his cohorts. He also plays the
majority of the female roles, and his portrayal of the fictional daughter
of communist leader Ho Chi Minh is a riot. As
the play closes, several sobering facts make clear the play's true lesson:
You might as well laugh at the absurdities of American history because the
truth is too depressing. |
___________________________________________________________________________________
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Theater
Review:
"THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF
BY LUCIA MAURO
There’s a fine line between expertly chiseled satire and flat-as-a-board
stupidity. The writers of "The Complete History of
They’ve also tackled tongue-in-cheek abridged romps through the Bible and the
modern musical. But their madcap darting across the
My experience moved from boredom to disgust to befuddlement. Director John Gawlik has assembled a trio of multitalented comedic
actors – especially the pliable Dominic Conti and polished Tim Decker, ably
complemented by Tim Schueneman. Yet I couldn’t help
but wonder what provoked them to expend so much energy on such a dated,
irrelevant and plain ol’ goofy revue? When the
performers must resort to audience-dousing spit takes and water machine-gun
fights, you know that the writers were not clever enough to provide pertinent
comedy in the text itself. Sight gags, in this case, are last-ditch efforts
to keep the audience awake.
In a nutshell, the show repeatedly reminds us that our history revolves
around war, the stealing of land from Native Americans and money. How
brilliant! Who would have thought that? Strange but the writers are
remarkably timid when it comes to the issue of slavery. Nevertheless,
"The Complete History of
While I’m a fervent supporter of First Amendment rights and believe nations
and their policies must always be fiercely scrutinized, I found this show to
be in very bad taste. You just don’t make fun of Abraham Lincoln’s
assassination…period. Here it’s reenacted using an over-sized figure with a
balloon head that gets burst by a bullet discharged from the gun of a
moustache-twirling John Wilkes Booth.
And do we really need a hip-hop version of the history of Plymouth Rock; or a
nonsensical segment on a wine-swilling Amerigo
Vespucci and his big-breasted wife sporting a Contadina Tomato Paste apron;
or an Indian chief doing the "Dance of the Antelope’s Intestines?"
There’s even a comedy bit on child labor in sweatshops. Now that’s offensive!
I could go on and on – midgets at Valley Forge (a mistaken reference to
minute men); pot-smoking Founding Fathers; Ronald Reagan as a puppet
manipulated by Nancy Reagan; a dreadful – and dreaded --
audience-participation segment involving meaningless references to Oprah Winfrey;
an inept "film noir" recap of post-war America; and the fact that
just about every female character (besides Nancy Reagan) gets punched in the
face.
What was the tourist-friendly Noble Fool Theater Company thinking? The last
thing we need in these fragile times is a historic bashing – and such a
demented and misguided one at that!•
"The Complete History of
____________________________________________________________________________________
The Complete History of America
There are no
good shows around, you've seen all the good movies, and done the museum thing.
What else is fun to do in DC? I was in this situation and decided to check out
The Complete History of America (abridged) by the Reduced Shakespeare Company
(RSC). I highly recommend it if you're in a similar position (before July 5,
after which they premier their new show, The Bible---The Complete Word of
God (abridged)).
The RSC is
indeed reduced; it involves only three performers, Matt Croke,
Reed Martin, and Austin Tichenor, who take you
through a 2 hour condensed version of the history of
What most
impressed me about the RSC was their ability to improvise on the fly. People
who walked in late became the direct target of their sarcasm. It was fortunate
no one did after the intermission, when they were weilding
super-soakers, ready to attack the enemy. Another thing that impressed me the
most is their ability to make fun of everything and anything, every minute of
the show. It is one of those shows where you listen carefully so you didn't
miss a single external reference (including the one to Allen Ginsberg's Howl).
While some of
the gags are not-so politically correct, the central theme is in line with
current understanding of American History (i.e., the politically correct form
where the current, mostly negative, stereotypes of the majority population is
upheld). I suppose it is indeed good that one can laugh at themselves. Still,
it did manage to invoke a few open mouths (you can guess how uptight those people
must've been).
Highlights
include the George Washinton impersonation, the
letter from Amy (a British girl who thinks its funny that three Americans name
themselves after a British playwright), the living slideshow, the creation of
the constitution, other choices made by Betsy Ross for the American flag, and
the word games (Did you know that "AMERICAN" is a loaded word?).
The ending
falters a bit with the whole Sam Diamond detective bit, since it seems a bit
incongruous, but they make up for it by re-doing the ending reversing time
itself. To a point where humanity has not yet become the top of the food chain
and all the other creatures are existing in a happy
equilibrium.
Play
ram-blings || Ram Samudrala || me@ram.org
___________________________________________________________________________________
http://jobsitetheater.org/america.htm
The Complete History
of America (abridged)
By Adam Long, Reed Martin & Austin Tichenor
Directed by Katrina Stevenson
2005 "Best Hilarious Theater Production" —
Weekly Planet Best of the Bay
Listen to the
exclusive WMNF Interview with the cast of the show! [
From
The
creative team from the productions of Shakespeare (abridged) and The
Bible (abridged) – both chosen by Weekly Planet as area Top 10 offerings –
collectively tackles controversial questions like: Who really discovered
If
you think you don't know much about history, get in line: Americans are
notorious for their willful ignorance of things past. Jobsite insists this
shouldn't keep you from the show – in fact it's quite possible you might know
even less after seeing the show!
In
the tradition of the (abridged) shows,
Jobsite
Artistic Director David M. Jenkins thinks this show ideal for today's climate,
"Between the rampant nationalism and the recent election, we think it more
vital than ever for us to take a step back and show we're capable of laughing
at ourselves. It, too, is part of the healing."
Additional
material for this production is provided by the Jobsite performers and
director. The show – heavily steeped in improv,
audience participation and current events – is written loosely enough to keep
up with the news of the day. Originally produced by the Reduced Shakespeare
Company amidst the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, the Jobsite cast brings the play
up to date to reflect these changed times.
The 900-lb Guerillas
This show features the same Jobsite team that brought Shakespeare (abridged) and Bible (abridged) to capacity Bay area crowds – Jason Evans, David M. Jenkins and Shawn Paonessa under the direction of Katrina Stevenson. See more about the cast and crew here.
Production History
The Complete History of
Want
us to perform at a theater near you? The Complete History of
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/07.11.02/historyofamerica-0228.html
History Lark
'The Complete History of America (abridged)' offers
corniness with a conscience
By Heather Zimmerman
WHO SAYS Americans don't have a sense of history? In their
comedy The Complete History of America (abridged), Adam Long, Reed
Martin and Austin Tichenor trot out some of the
oldest jokes in the book to celebrate the history and culture of a nation,
which, it's often joked, doesn't have very much history and even less culture.
City Lights Theater Company presents this very silly show, which somehow proves
that old jibe wrong--kind of.
The buoyant comedy has a natural, impromptu quality that
resembles comic improv, with the ensemble cast of
Derek McCaw, Ed Meehan and Brian Ruf
tackling every role from Amerigo Vespucci to the
Andrews Sisters. From the beginning, the play takes the stereotype of the
historically ignorant American and runs with it, contending that the Revolutionary
War got started by a game of telephone, that Thomas Jefferson's homegrown wacky
tabacky influenced the Declaration of Independence,
that Ronald Reagan was a robot controlled by
It's all done in good fun, and some sketches are truly
inspired: in particular, Lewis and Clark as a vaudeville duo a la Martin and
Lewis, a muffed Civil War slide show and a film noir-styled conspiracy that
wraps up the last 50 years. McCaw, Meehan and Ruf prove a very versatile comic trio: it takes some
capable comedians to make some of the script's recycled groaners actually funny
again--and they do.
Director Tom Gough generally uses a light hand, hard to do
when the tone is deliberately cornball. The show loses its momentum from time
to time with sketches that go on too long, and it can meander between sketches,
when the three actors prank each other mercilessly and trade philosophies on
history and the
Although it would have been the obvious choice to present a
collection of goofy historical vignettes played strictly for laughs, ultimately
The Complete History of
The
Complete History of America (ABRIDGED) plays
Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 7pm through July 20 at City Lights
Theater Company, 529 S.