Interview: Laughs Most Generous: Reduced Shakespeare Company's Reed Martin & Austin Tichenor

It would be quite the coup to talk to the guys who found the long lost first play of a 17-year-old Will Shakespeare. Let me know if that ever happens to you. For my part, I'd actually prefer what I got, which was a great conversation with Austin Tichenor (left) and Reed Martin (right), the guys who are pretending they found the long lost first play of a 17-year-old Will Shakespeare. At their request and in their words, I will emphasize this point..."We're pretending...We did not find a play! It's a joke!" Point taken.

I sat down with Reed and Austin, the co-directors of the well-known (at least to them, I'm sure they'd say), Reduced Shakespeare Company, a comedy troupe that began with performances at California Renaissance fairs, and has since traveled far and wide to bring the funny, not just to the world of Shakespeare, but to those more narrow, niche topics like American History, Hollywood and The Bible, among others. The RSC is celebrating its 35th anniversary with their new work, William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play, currently having its world premiere at Washington's own Shakespearean treasure, The Folger Theatre.

Like The Rude Mechanicals, the roving band of players from my personal Shakespeare favorite, A Midsummer Night's Dream, who will go to great lengths to ply their art, tell the stories, and, above all, entertain, The Reduced Shakespeare Company makes "a troupe of three, a single backdrop, lots of cheap props, bad costumes and raggedy wigs," so wildly entertaining, you might want to get up on stage and join in the fun. And with them, don't count out that possibility. "Interacting with the audience, as was done in Shakespeare's time, is really important to our shows," says Reed, who is a professionally trained circus clown, and sees that experience as a real advantage; "you're not really taught to do that in theater classes; but in the circus, it's what we do, day in and day out." They go on to say that "it's one of the great things about working here; the Folger celebrates that kind of engagement with Shakespeare, and however one engages with Shakespeare is something to be celebrated."

But if you think that broad, slapstick comedy, a circus clown and Shakespeare would not be a natural fit, you definitely haven't seen the RSC work. Austin, Reed and I all agree that it is common for even well-read, Shakespeare fans to be intimidated by aspects of Shakespeare's work; the unfamiliar language, myriad characters, sometimes convoluted plots. But, as Reed says "we learn to be intimidated; children don't have that preconception, and we can teach them appreciation, not intimidation." And as Austin points out, "We've been made to feel we can't criticize Shakespeare, but it is possible to criticize at the same time as we celebrate his genius."

At our shows, the guys say, "audiences find that they know a lot more Shakespeare than they think they do. You hear a line and think 'that's a line they made up,' but no, it's actually Shakespeare! This show is about 60% genuine Shakespeare, and we guarantee people will recognize so much of it."

So, why William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play? "Well, we've been considering it for about 5 years, but really started writing it in December '14 in our home base of Sonoma, CA. We knew we wanted it to revolve around an ancient grudge and merry war between Midsummer's Puck & The Tempest's Ariel, a magical rivalry that evokes the feel of the Sorcerer's Apprentice, where things get out of control and we can bring in all these characters from Shakespeare's universe and put them together...One of the joys of the script, is that it features lots of Shakespeare's smaller, crowd pleasing characters in larger more prominent roles; it's a bit of fan fiction, really!," they laugh. "After some of the other shows we've done over the years, we felt it made sense to go back to our roots for the RSC 35th anniversary and Shakespeare's 400th. We workshopped the show last summer in wine country; as an outdoor event, where the audience could have a picnic before the show. We always want to create the right environment; and with the Folger, you walk into this theater and you're halfway there already."

"We love that our shows appeal to everyone, of all ages. No matter what your sense of humor, wild wacky loony whatever, we'll have something for you. And this new play is no different."

But with the sheer volume of Shakespeare's work, I asked, how did they decide which elements to bring into to his "first play"? "We wanted to take the most well known characters in Shakespeare's canon and put them in unexpected settings with characters outside their story...so, take Lady Macbeth, the master motivator with Hamlet, the guy who can't make up his mind...Dromio from Comedy of Errors with Juliet; Viola with the Duke of Gloucester, who became Richard III...this is all reminiscent of popular entertainment in Shakespeare's time. both high and low brow. Now we put Shakespeare on a pedestal, but then it was more accessible, we use only male actors as they did, and interact with audience as they did."

And how do they decide who plays what roles in the productions? "When we write, we outline, ideas," says Austin, "and I am often the pompous academic because I am the long speech guy; Reed is more the drill sargeant and keeps things moving, and Teddy is our man child."

Austin and Reed met as undergrads at UC Berkeley, and both were keen to do more than just act; Reed was interested in journalism and writing before he decided to major in theater, and Austin wanted to do it all, act, direct, write, etc. "I just wanted to create theater," he says.

And so they have. And so they do. They've done The Complete Works of William Shakespeare in Dublin, and brought a Catholic priest up on stage to play Ophelia, The Bible (Abridged) in Northern Ireland with protesters at the theater, and performed The Complete History of America (Abridged) for Senator Daniel Moynihan at the Folger in 1994. And it's clear they love every minute. "This is a great gig!" they agree. And now they're betting you're going to love what they've created in William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play. I suspect they're right.

Oh, and what do they want audiences to know before they come to the show? "Drink. The more you drink, the funnier we are! [soda for the kiddies, of course; sugar works too!]" They jest, as they do. But seriously though, these guys are pretty darn funny no matter how much or little you've imbibed. See for yourself at The Folger through May 8 '16.

Visit http://www.folger.edu/events/the-reduced-shakespeare-company for more information and tickets.

Find out more about The Reduced Shakespeare Company and their shows on their website: http://www.reducedshakespeare.com

And get a few advance chuckles here: https://youtu.be/fJbCRfRwj-s