Five men, three chairs, and 75 minutes of improv set in the world of the Bard. That’s the simple premise of The Improvised Shakespeare Company. But the payoff is so much more.
At the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, the skilled improvisers treated the audience to a laugh-out-loud war farce cooked up on the spot, with English forces invading France while riding swimming horses, trading ridiculous songs, and waxing nostalgic about collecting legal documents. It was just as silly and delightful as it sounds.
Founded in 2005 at Chicago’s iO Theatre, Improvised Shakespeare Company has been around the improv block a few times. The five cast members – creator and director Blaine Swen, Joey Bland, Ross Bryant, Brendan Dowling, Blaine Swen, and Steve Waltien – are all seasoned veterans of the venerable Second City and Improv Olympic scenes. Still, creating a spontaneous yet faithful Shakespearean drama/comedy is a next level challenge, even for the pros. So I was pleasantly surprised to see just how good these guys are.
The show always starts with a suggestion of a random play title suggestion from the audience to shape the evening’s improv journey. Our night’s winning suggestion was “Ham Sandwich.” And with no other prompts, the performers got to work. Joey Bland stepped to the stage as the typical Shakespearean Prologue, delivering a meandering comic monologue that could have come from Puck’s mouth in a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Through rhyming twists, he laid out the King of England’s dastardly plans to conquer Europe and eventually the entire known world. Bland was totally in command as he spun intrigue and complex rhyming couplets out of thin air. It’s difficult to improvise with a partner; it’s doubly so when standing by yourself on an empty stage. And yet he captivated the audience as he set the table for the next 70 minutes of improv nonsense.
The Improvised Shakespeare Company closes October 6, 2019 Details and tickets
Enter Steve Waltien and Ross Bryant as the arrogant King of England and his lascivious Queen. They swapped bawdy banter and schemed until Blaine Swen entered as a hapless messenger, tasked with delivering a missive from the King of France. Cue more banter and scheming that wouldn’t feel out of place in The Merchant of Venice or Macbeth, except for the addition of jokes about mènage à trois. In a crew of extremely talented improvisers, Swen and Bryant stand out for their overall command of the stage and ease with the genre. They’ve both been there since the group’s beginning, and it shows.
As the action crossed the sea to France on a cavalry of drowning horses (not making that up), Bryant, Swen, and Waltien co-engineered the show’s best moment. Bryant’s English soldier force Swen and Waltien’s mysteriously accented characters to confirm their English bona fides in the most embarrassing way possible: by singing a song about their army’s plans. And so was born “The Plan Song”, a silly earworm about how to conquer France that twists and turns with each demented insight from the performers. This silly tune became a running gag throughout the show whenever the performers wanted to inflict an improv challenge on each other.
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The performers advanced their impromptu story, throwing in typical Shakespearean elements like star-crossed lovers and palace intrigue. Brendan Dowling, who got off to a slow start, really ramped up his performance as both a tragic French maiden and a vengeful pig farmer reminiscent of Hamlet’s Laertes. Bland and Waltien rounded out the show with a hopeful reprise of “Plan Song”, titled “Love Song”. It was a touching yet appropriately ridiculous coda to a very wacky evening.
The Shakespearean farce Ham Sandwich, a deliriously silly and impressive display of improv skills and teamwork, will never be seen again. And that’s the fun of it. Each distinct audience of Improvised Shakespeare Company will take their own twisted tour through the Bard’s literary stylings, guided by the immensely talented ensemble. So start working on your wacky title suggestions – and get over to the Kennedy Center before they leave town.
The Improvised Shakespeare Company. Created and directed by Blaine Swen. Featuring Blaine Swen, Joey Bland, Ross Bryant, Brendan Dowling, and Steve Waltien. Presented by The Kennedy Center. Reviewed by Ben Demers.
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