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Dateline:
5th August, 2005
Have an RSC Laugh with Ken Dodd, Viz
and Shakespeare
The Royal Shakespeare Company is hosting a series of talks, late night
cabaret and comedy in Stratford-upon-Avon to celebrate the legacy of
Shakespeare’s comedies – with academics, journalists, writers,
actors, directors and comedians.
The "Laugh In" coincides with the company’s season of
Shakespeare’s Comedies currently running the Royal Shakespeare
Theatre - A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night,
The Comedy of Errors and As You Like It - and will run
from 21st to 24th September..
Events organiser Fiona Lindsay said, "The aim of these events
is to find resonances of Shakespeare’s own approach to the business
of being funny in contemporary works and in unexpected places."
Diary of Events
Wednesday 21 September
Insanely Funny? - The Comedy of Madness
11am – 12pm, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Are mad people funny? RSC actors Guy Henry and Richard Cordery and
Sophie Corlett from the mental health charity, MIND, discuss lunacy
as a source of laughter with comedian Simon Greenall.
"A Fellow of Infinite Jest .." - Ken Dodd Talks Shakespeare
and Comedy
12.30pm – 2pm, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Kenn Dodd is no stranger to the Bard or Shakespearean humour. Britain’s
funniest comedian made his Shakespearean stage debut as Malvolio in
Twelfth Night at Liverpool’s Playhouse Theatre and played
Yorick in Kenneth Branagh’s big screen version of Hamlet.
It marked his film debut among a cast that included Sir John Gielgud,
Sir Derek Jacobi, Richard Briers and Julie Christie.
Now he is about to make another important and very different Shakespearean
debut, when he takes to the RSC stage in Stratford-upon-Avon to deliver
a unique ‘talk’ on humour and comedy technique to lovers
of Shakespeare.
‘It was a wonderful experience to act the immortal line of William
S,’ says Ken. ‘Now, as a traditional variety comedian, I
am coming to the RSC to give a talk on what I know about comedy, and
how I am still learning after more than 50 years on the variety stage.’
Laughing at the Lower Orders - Why are Chavs funny?
2.30pm – 3.20pm, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Are the working classes destined to be the butt of society’s
jokes? And if so, is it fear or fun that drives the gag? Celebrated
theatre and television writer, Alan Plater, is joined by the editorial
team of the British comic Viz and RSC actors to examine Shakespeare’s
treatment of the lower-order characters and the experience of their
equivalents today. Hosted by Time Out Editor at Large, Michael
Hodges.
Time to Laugh
4pm – 5.30pm, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Armando Iannucci hosts a debate about comic timing. He is joined by
comedian Ken Dodd, writer and academic, Carol Rutter and Time Out’s
Michael Hodges. The panel discusses the controversial journey from
horror to humour and ask just how long after a tragic event can we
start to laugh?
Cartoon Meets the Classics
6.15pm – 7.15pm, RST Circle Bar
A pre-show reception that celebrates the opening of a specially created
exhibition by the groundbreaking Viz artists as they cast their characters
in Shakespeare’s comedies.
There follows the evening performance of Twelfth Night at
7.30pm in the RST
Making Fish Laugh and Mark Watson, plus Armando
Iannucci
10.30pm, RST Café Bar – Late Night Cabaret
Gifted gag-smith and award-winning comedy writer Alex Horne with his
assistant Tim Key bring the Perrier nominated show Making Fish
Laugh to the RSC. A delightfully daft piece which explores exactly
what it is that makes humans laugh.
Thursday 22 September
Comedy Workshop (Part 1)
10.30am – 11.30am, RST Circle Bar
Led by experts in the field this is a practical course over two sessions
that seeks to demonstrate that anyone can make an audience laugh.
Alan Plater in Conversation
11.30am – 12.30pm, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Michael Hodges talks to Alan Plater about his life and work. Alan
has been a full-time writer since 1961, with almost 300 assorted credits
in radio, television, theatre and films, plus six novels, occasional
journalism, broadcasting and teaching. His TV work includes The
Barchester Chronicles and A Very British Coup and amongst
his theatre plays are: Peggy for You (with Maureen Lipman playing
agent Peggy Ramsay at the Hampstead Theatre and in the West End) and
Sweet William – a comedy about Shakespeare and his pals
which recently completed a fifteen week tour with the Northern Broadsides
Company.
There follows a matinee performance of The Comedy of Errors
at 1.30pm in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Looking at Laughter
Post Matinee, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Professor Richard Wiseman, who specializes in exploring the psychology
of humour talks to Armando Iannucci about laughing and making others
laugh.
Evening performance of The Comedy of Errors at 7.30pm in the
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Political Animal
10.30pm, RST Café Bar, Late-night cabaret
Late night political/satirical stand up with prolific funny men, John
Oliver and Andy Zaltzman.
Friday 23 September
Shakespeare's Funny Business
11am – 12pm, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
How does a performer bring 400 year old humour to a contemporary audience?
Join the funny men from A Midsummer Night’s Dream as they
talk and demonstrate the use of pratfalls and visual gags which ensure
that audiences are in stitches even if they’re not entirely sure
what the joke is. Hosted by RSC Assistant Director, Phillip Breen.
How Language Makes Us Laugh
12.30pm – 1.30pm, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
The RSC’s acclaimed voice and language expert, Cicely Berry,
works with actors in a practical demonstration of how Shakespeare’s
text and timing puts a smile on your face.
Big Bang of Comedy - How Humour Distorts the World
2.30pm – 3.30pm, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Writer and academic, Dr Jonathan Bate, the editor of Astronomy
Now Dr Stuart Clark, comedian Richard Herring and RSC Associate
director Gregory Doran discuss the physics of playwriting. Shakespeare’s
comedies often take place in a world that makes little sense as a
real entity in time and space. Rather than be constricted by reality,
Shakespeare creates his own comic universe.
The Bawdy Bits - Sex and Humour
4pm – 5pm, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Comedian Richard Herring hosts a discussion with sex psychologist
Paula Hall, Dr Carol Rutter, RSC actors and a journalist from Maxim
magazine about the potent combination of sex and humour in Shakespeare’s
plays.
Evening perfromance of The Comedy of Errors at 7.30pm at the
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Sally Starshine Plus Hipsters, Flipsters and Finger-Poppin' Dadd
10.30pm, RST Café Bar
Live jazz cabaret with favourite jazz standards. Also Jake Broder
as Lord Buckley, an icon of 1950s American counter culture, and Sally
Starshine (RSC company member Stewart W. Fraser’s alter ego dressed
in sparkles and sequins).
Saturday 24 September
Comedy Workshop (Part 2)
Continued from 22 September.
Out of the Woods
11.30pm – 12.30pm, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Homeless and confused, the characters in Shakespeare’s comedies
are cast into a magical exile. If Shakespeare were writing today where
would he make his characters run to? Theatre designer Tom Piper, Architect
Ian Ritchie, RSC actors and Adam Sampson, Director of Shelter, ask
where the new realms of exile and misery are. This discussion is hosted
by RSC Associate Director, Dominic Cooke.
Matinee performance of As You Like It at 1.30pm in the Royal
Shakespeare Theatre
A Witty Foor, or a Foolish Wit?
Post matinee, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Decide for yourself as we put one of Shakespeare’s famous clowns
in the psychologist’s chair and explore the bounds of idiocy
and wisdom.
The Mitchell Brothers
10.30pm, RST Café Bar
A hip hop duo from London’s East End and the first band to be
signed by Mike ‘The Streets’ Skinner’s record label.
They have taken an essentially American idiom and injected it with
English qualities of knowing strong humour and narrative. They are
currently working on a unique re-interpretation of Shakespeare songs
which they will present specially for the RSC Laugh-In.
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