Threads review, mnfringe show 15, Juliet and Juliet: Improvised Shakespeare - a new short play fully improvised by just a suggestion of subject matter and two names, all in iambic pentameter, so funny that even the performers sometimes had to suppress smiles (and corpses moved with laughter); the skillset here is off the charts impressive; great fun you don't need to be high-brow to enjoy (the Bard loved dick jokes, after all) - 4.5 stars (my Fringe Top 20 write-up)
Juliet and Juliet: Improvised Shakespeare is a marvel on many levels. Good improvisation can be hard to come by. Good long-form improv even more so. I thought when I saw a fully improvised musical that was one of the highest degrees of difficulty (to do well). Improvising in iambic pentameter never occurred to me. And yet, with Juliet and Juliet, here it is.
Meghan Wolff and Sami Haeli (our two Juliets) make a perfect team. They play off one another well, and clearly enjoy each other’s company. Even after all this time working together, they still find one another unexpectedly amusing, sometimes needing to suppress a smile that would be out of character, or finding their body shaking with laughter even though they are a corpse on the floor who is supposed to be quite dead. This isn’t to cast any judgment. I mention it just because it’s fun to see them having fun, too, even while they’re working very hard to entertain the rest of us. (If you want to see a little of them in action, there's a video sampler in my preview post on them.)
Every Juliet and Juliet show is a completely new one act play, in the style of Shakespeare, so I’m not spoiling anything by telling you what transpired at the performance I attended, just by way of example. The two improvisors are in an approximation of period clothing, perhaps not strictly Elizabethan, but different enough to set it apart from modern day attire and put the audience in a Shakespeare state of mind.
The duo asked the audience for a suggestion of subject matter which would be appropriate for a Shakespeare play, and Revenge was proffered. They asked for a name and then another name. They received Alistair and Franklin, and then they were off and running!
One of the enjoyable elements of the show is watching them collaborate to build the story in real time. It’s sort of dazzling to behold. They started with two characters who were plotting how to break bad news about the war to the king, then realizing that perhaps they should lie to the king and tell him everything’s going great, and as long as no one contradicted them and they backed each other up, no one would be the wiser. Later on, since the actors were on a completely different storytelling tangent, they mentioned the offstage fate of those two characters and didn’t revisit them again.
The real plot kicked into gear when one became a princess and the other her father King Alistair. The princess was bereft and heartbroken and after prodding from her father, performed a pantomime of her lovesick dilemma. The pantomime was an elaborate one and when the king didn’t guess things exactly right, the princess (and scene partner) basically agreed “I like your version of the story better, let’s go with that.”
The princess had fallen for a sailor, who was engaged to marry another, and when his fiancee caught the princess and the sailor kissing, she killed the sailor. The king then made the mistake of telling his daughter that if she got revenge on the sailor’s killer, his spirit might return to her. So the princess set off to murder the other woman, but not before her father could recount the story of his wife, the queen, dying from the flu. “Oh, if only I could murder the flu and bring your mother back!”
There’s a side plot where a soldier just barely escaping from the defeat and death of his entire regiment comes to Franklin the apothecary to get something to treat his wounds, so he can hold it together long enough to give the king some bad news about the war. But the apothecary is so long-winded, going off on conversational tangents, that the solider dies before he can get any medicine. The apothecary vows to get the bad war news to the king on the dead soldier’s behalf.
Turns out the sailor’s now ex-fiancee also had the flu, so in killing her, the princess also killed the flu. So the late queen her mother returned from the dead. But the queen returned angry, and everyone she touched just started dropping dead, including the kitchen staff and the king himself. And then the sailor’s spirit also returned and, after accidentally killing a raccoon by touching it, did battle with the queen, sending her back to the grave, which somehow made him fully human again - safe to the touch once more. A happy ending for the two survivors - the end.
Again, they did all this in Shakespearian verse, both silly and impressive at the same time. Even if you’re not a Shakespeare fan, I think most people would still find this funny. And if you are a fan of the Bard, then you’ll appreciate the humor on a whole other level. If you appreciate good improv, or just need a laugh, Juliet and Juliet is a good show to add to your Fringe schedule.
4.5 Stars Very Highly Recommended
Here's some handy links to coverage of shows I've seen in the Fringe this year getting 5 and 4.5 Stars (Very Highly Recommended), 4 and 3.5 Stars (Highly Recommended) as well as the shows ranking 3 stars or less; also links to this year's Top 10 list and Top 11-20 list, also a full list of all returning favorites to this year's Fringe, plus a link to ALL the 2024 Minnesota Fringe Festival coverage.
While I have your attention, please VOTE :)
Minnesota is currently in the early voting period
for our Congressional and local primaries (I had the U.S. Senate,
Congress, and the Minneapolis school board on my ballot) - final day to
vote in the primary is Tuesday, August 13th, but you don't have to wait
until Fringe is over, go vote right now :)
Early voting for the Presidential Election itself in Minnesota starts on Friday, September 20th.
We're lucky to have a lot of time to get our voices heard, so cast your
vote, and then make sure everyone you know and love is registered and
gets to the polls to vote. Election Day, your final date to vote, is Tuesday, November 5th.
As a queer playwright and theater maker, I want a government that's compassionate and competent enough to keep us all safe and healthy, keep theaters open and running, and personally, I'd just like to be legal myself and keep the weirdos out of government and out of my personal business (and the things I post on this blog, for instance). We all have our reasons, so let's make sure we get the leaders we need and deserve, and get our friends, family and co-workers to raise their voices, too.
Find where to vote and what's on your ballot (with links to candidate websites) and other resources at the Minnesota Secretary of State's website.
For other resources on how to register, volunteer or donate, locally or nationally, check out Vote Save America.
Vote. Raise your voice. We're not going back.
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