New Victory Theater - WIlliam Shakespeare's Long Lost Play New Victory Theater - WIlliam Shakespeare's Long Lost Play Another New Victory Theater​ masterpiece, “William Shakespeare’s Long Lost Play” by Reduced Shakespeare Company. The great bard was either spinning in his grave like a fan on steroids, or died all over again from laughter. Cause these guys’ interpretation of his works took them shamelessly far. They started off declaring that today’s Disney stories are based on Shakespeare’s ideas... well, think about it: an evil uncle is cunningly murdering his brother, marring his brother’s wife, and sending a young prince on a wild trip of doubts ending with a revenge to sort this mess out. What is it? Hamlet? Nope! The Lion King. Wild twin adventures? The Parent Trap. Midsummer Night Dream? Fantasia. Othello? Alladin. Alladin?!! Yep, it has scheming Yago! Ok, it is a bit of a stretch, but really funny how much of an impact Shakespeare’s works had on today’s culture.

Well, they didn’t stop at that. Three absolutely brilliant actors (truly remarkable!!), turned the entire body of work of the great bard into a wild medley of characters and stories, all intertwined, all hilariously funny, all filled with majestic Shakespearean lines, all naughtily and charmingly transformed. No humorous tools were left behind, high or low. “Mom, is there going to be sword fighting?” - asked my son on a way to the theater. Not really... but there were water guns! The Shakespearean lovers were either quivering their lips as were leaving the theater in the middle of the performance or laughing so hard, that their faces were wet with tears long before the actors started spraying their audience with water guns. What an introduction to this body of great literature.

Well, my son loved it! To him, the name of Shakespeare no longer sounds like a boring old fashioned torture device.

Besides... Shakespearean stories are really not my favorites. Unlike the literary founders from Russia (Pushkin, Tolstoy), Shakespear didn’t have surfs to feed him. He had to feed his family with his craft. His plays had too appeal to everybody: royalty, Gentry, commoners, who would otherwise practice their rotten tomatoes throwing skills. And they did. He always has some rich and miserable, and drunk, common, silly, funny characters. He always had an over abundance of drama, tears, pathos. Just like “Titanic”, he loves large scale tragedies. Just like modern soap operas, his Richards and Henrys are endlessly shedding their tears from troubles. And just like a modern sitcoms, there is always a place for laughter, political pokes, satirical moments.

This play had it all! So, I think modern day Shakespeare would’ve looked exactly like this! He’d have some epical “either everybody dies in the first 10 minutes or does it long and tear-squeezing” scenes; he’d have these shamelessly funny productions. Who knows, may be even water guns 😉