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I first encountered the Reduced Shakespeare Company before
they were the Reduced Shakespeare Company, back when
I was first living in California, never mind how many years ago. I
was in Anaheim back then, which I thought of then and still
think of today as Ratland. (Knott's Berry Farm used to have
billboards that said, "Come visit us; the other place has mice.") And
I'd go to the Renaissance Faire, where these three guys from
Northern Cal would do these outrageous versions of Shakespeare's
plays, including faster and faster versions of Hamlet, the last one in
reverse. Years later I saw their descendents in London, doing The
Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) and The Complete
History of America (Abridged). Not quite as pleasant as being
under the trees at a Renaissance Faire, but not bad at all. Since
then the troupe has grown and prospered.
And now they're doing a podcast. It isn't their shows; it's more meta
than that. But hearing stories from the road, and the method to their
madness, and meeting the players is a whole lot of fun too. And they
do include bits from their various shows, two of which I was pleased
to note will be playing later this year in San Francisco. Okay, so
they're not the originals. Then again, considering what all the
intervening years have done for me, is that a bad thing?
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