The Un-Scripted Theater Company announces "Improvised Bawdy Shakespeare," 7/9-24 at Oakland's Temescal Arts Center & 7/30-8/21 at San Francisco's Exit Theatre, Stage Left. More info at www.un-scripted
June 21, 2004 (Press Release) --
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—In honor of Shakespeare’s 440th birthday, The Un-Scripted Theater Company announced their upcoming run of improvised Shakespeare shows, Improvised Bawdy Shakespeare.
Improvised Bawdy Shakespeare takes a stand against Shakespeare’s bowdlerization two centuries ago, and seeks to reverse the trend. Around 1800, the Bowdler family (Henrietta, a rigorous evangelist, and later her brother Thomas) created the Family Shakespeare, cutting out Shakespeare’s naughtiest bits to render the Bard’s works more family-friendly. Two hundred years later, The Un-Scripted Theater Company is putting all the naughty bits back in … and then some!
“If you read Shakespeare’s First Folio texts [the earliest working editions of Shakespeare’s plays, complete with original language, spelling and punctuation], they’re completely raunchy! But even if the language hadn’t been changed, today’s audiences wouldn’t get most of it anyway—it’s just not meaningful anymore,” says Christian Utzman, the show’s director.
“A lot of people assume Shakespeare wrote the dirty parts for the Groundlings,” Utzman continues. “But now we’re learning that isn’t true—everybody loved the sexual innuendo, from the Groundlings in the pit on up to the Queen (though maybe she wouldn’t admit it in public!).”
Rather than re-writing the Bard’s works, The Un-Scripted Theater Company will improvise full-length plays in Shakespeare’s style. After weeks and months of studying the actual texts and practicing the language (not to mention the innuendo), they say they will be ready to give their audiences a show that the Poet himself could have written. “You can improvise anything if you know it well enough,” director Utzman says. “Even Shakespeare.”
Improvised Bawdy Shakespeare will begin its 7-week run on Friday, July 9, at the Temescal Arts Center in Oakland. After three weeks in Oakland (8 pm Fridays and Saturdays, July 9 through 24) , the run will move to San Francisco’s Exit Stage Left Theatre for an additional four weeks (8 pm Fridays and Saturdays, July 30 through August 21). Tickets are $10 general admission, or $7 for students, seniors, and improvisers.
For more information on The Un-Scripted Theater Company, visit their Web site at www.un-scripted.com or call 415-869-5384.
For more information on bowdlerization or on Shakespeare’s First Folio, visit these links:
• The University of Chicago Library: http://efts.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/OTA-SHK/
• The Oxford University Press: http://www.oup.co.uk/academic/humanities/literature/viewpoint/anthony_west/
• The Original Shakespeare Company: http://www.oscuk.com/
• St. Andrew’s College: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~adm6/en3025/listcoll.html
• The Saint Report: http://www.goatview.com/july11thomasbowdler.htm
Other books:
• Shakespeare’s Bawdy by Eric Partridge
• Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach by Patrick Tucker
• Dr. Bowdler’s Legacy: A History of Expurgated Books in England and America by Noel Perrin
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Improvised Bawdy Shakespeare takes a stand against Shakespeare’s bowdlerization two centuries ago, and seeks to reverse the trend. Around 1800, the Bowdler family (Henrietta, a rigorous evangelist, and later her brother Thomas) created the Family Shakespeare, cutting out Shakespeare’s naughtiest bits to render the Bard’s works more family-friendly. Two hundred years later, The Un-Scripted Theater Company is putting all the naughty bits back in … and then some!
“If you read Shakespeare’s First Folio texts [the earliest working editions of Shakespeare’s plays, complete with original language, spelling and punctuation], they’re completely raunchy! But even if the language hadn’t been changed, today’s audiences wouldn’t get most of it anyway—it’s just not meaningful anymore,” says Christian Utzman, the show’s director.
“A lot of people assume Shakespeare wrote the dirty parts for the Groundlings,” Utzman continues. “But now we’re learning that isn’t true—everybody loved the sexual innuendo, from the Groundlings in the pit on up to the Queen (though maybe she wouldn’t admit it in public!).”
Rather than re-writing the Bard’s works, The Un-Scripted Theater Company will improvise full-length plays in Shakespeare’s style. After weeks and months of studying the actual texts and practicing the language (not to mention the innuendo), they say they will be ready to give their audiences a show that the Poet himself could have written. “You can improvise anything if you know it well enough,” director Utzman says. “Even Shakespeare.”
Improvised Bawdy Shakespeare will begin its 7-week run on Friday, July 9, at the Temescal Arts Center in Oakland. After three weeks in Oakland (8 pm Fridays and Saturdays, July 9 through 24) , the run will move to San Francisco’s Exit Stage Left Theatre for an additional four weeks (8 pm Fridays and Saturdays, July 30 through August 21). Tickets are $10 general admission, or $7 for students, seniors, and improvisers.
For more information on The Un-Scripted Theater Company, visit their Web site at www.un-scripted.com or call 415-869-5384.
For more information on bowdlerization or on Shakespeare’s First Folio, visit these links:
• The University of Chicago Library: http://efts.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/OTA-SHK/
• The Oxford University Press: http://www.oup.co.uk/academic/humanities/literature/viewpoint/anthony_west/
• The Original Shakespeare Company: http://www.oscuk.com/
• St. Andrew’s College: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~adm6/en3025/listcoll.html
• The Saint Report: http://www.goatview.com/july11thomasbowdler.htm
Other books:
• Shakespeare’s Bawdy by Eric Partridge
• Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach by Patrick Tucker
• Dr. Bowdler’s Legacy: A History of Expurgated Books in England and America by Noel Perrin
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