Artist The Improvised Shakespeare Company
-
Joshua Albanese
Improv guru Del Close didn't invent the unscripted art, but he accomplished something equally as innovative when he provided a storytelling structure for performances. He found that instituting a few restrictions opened up endless creative possibilities. Improvised Shakespeare Company continues the trend, performing a two-act piece that plays by the Bard's rules. The audience provides the title of a play that's never been written, then the cast (men in tunics, as per the style at the time) weaves Shakespearean themes, soliloquys and occasional iambic pentameter into comic gold—equal parts high- and low-brow at that. The show doesn't reinvent the improv wheel, but its hyper intelligent cast has found a way to play to its wheelhouse; the stories have arc, interesting characters and an uncanny sense of closure.
Updated 04/21/2009
