REVIEW: “William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (Abridged)” at Shaker Meeting House
- amymodesti5
- Aug 8
- 5 min read
COLONIE – Early this month, Confetti Stage, Inc. presented William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (Abridged), written by playwrights, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, inside the Shaker Meeting House located on the historic grounds of the Shaker Historical Society in Colonie.
The play, directed by Nathaniel “Nate” Beynon and assisted by Steve Henel, stars Chris Kowalski (as Puck, Lady Macbeth, King Lear and Kate from Taming of the Shrew), Ella McGrail (as Ariel, Beatrice, Viola, a mistress, and Pompey the pirate), and Matthew Side (as Hamlet, Richard the Third, Juliet, William Shakespeare, and Prospero).
The first week of performances were held Friday, Aug.1 and ran through Sunday, Aug. 3. Its second and final performances began Thursday, Aug. 7 and will run through Sunday, Aug. 10. The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday shows begin at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday matinee show starts at 2:00 p.m.
About Long Lost First Play (Abridged)
William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (Abridged), written by playwrights, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, made its world premiere at the Folger Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC April 21,2016. The production ran through May 8,2016.
The story centers around three local actors who find an ancient manuscript inside a red wagon that belonged to 17-year-old playwright, William Shakespeare. This manuscript contains speeches, plot twists and many characters from Shakespeare’s 39 plays that are all combined into one big piece of literature.
Within the storyline, an ancient grudge pits Puck (Chris Kowalski, from A Midsummer night's Dream) against Ariel (Ella McGrail, from The Tempest) and turns Shakespeare’s canon upside-down.
“(The play) really sort of asks the question; What if, for instance, Hamlet had help in getting what he needed to be done by another character for another play? What if Richard III found somebody who could like him for who he was, would he turn out to be so awful?” Beynon said. “So, it’s almost fan fiction, but it’s very well written and very funny fan fiction.”
Beynon was drawn to direct this production due to his love of William Shakespeare and how this play is portrayed as a “magic box”.
“The show is like a magic box; it’s very self-contained, it’s very small, but you keep pulling more and more stuff out of it.” Beynon explains. “It’s a bit like the TARDIS from Doctor Who; it contains this whole huge infinite universe in this very dense little package, and I love that about it. I also love Shakespeare, and it has a fair amount of actual text of the Shakespeare placed in it and although it is a very broad comedy, there is such a love and reverence for those plays mixed in with it.”
With the production taking place inside the Shaker Meeting House, the stage setup includes the manuscript, two large wooden chests that the actors use both as props, and additional storage for costumes and items used in the scenes, and a makeshift changing area with moveable closets that are used for costume storage and used as an additional backdrop wall.
William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (Abridged) Review
Watching McGrail, Kowalski, and Side perform as themselves and the wide array of Shakespearian and modern-day characters in this two-part production felt seamless and well-timed. It made it feel like I was watching an episode of “Whose Line is it Anyway?” in which the host would suggest the prompt (or tell the audience the scene info to set the tone for the act) before the actors, dressed in the clothes or provided props, would improvise and act out the scene, or sometimes, songs, on the spot.
All the actors don’t exactly have complete costumes, and for each scene, the actors, in their regular clothes, will throw on what they have and tell their story, as if they are playing a real-life game of dress up. For example, McGrail can be seen directing a fictitious ship dressed in pirate clothes as Pompey, and in a completely different scene, wearing a pretend purple bra over her tank top dressed up to portray Ariel in A Little Mermaid.
And it isn’t just the actors who are getting into the act, but also members of the audience. Within the scene when Pompey is steering the ship, Kowalski gives the audience blue wands to help make water waves and small pots to make noise as though the audience is moving through the storm with them in the scene. Even a Confetti Stage volunteer went up onto the stage to help hold the giant prop wave alongside another actor as the rest got swallowed up by the wave to end the first half of the production. In another improv moment, Side, in character, comes over to an audience member and attempts to show them a book page from the large manuscript. It was nice seeing the actors including audience participation in several scenes in the production.
William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (Abridged) was funny and entertaining, and made the audience laugh in all the right spots. It had the right mixture of Shakespeare quotes, Shakespearian puns mixed in with a handful of modern-day jabs poking fun at everything from Disney, Harry Potter, pop culture, politics, and at times, singing songs as Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love", Herman's Hermits’ “Henry the VIII, I Am” and Jay Z’s “99 Problems”.
Even if the audience are familiar or possibly unfamiliar with the hero of the story, William Shakespeare, spectators will certainly be having fun at the Shaker Meeting House.
As for what future spectators expect to see and experience in this production, Beynon said, “Joy”.
For More Information
William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (Abridged) can be seen inside the Shaker Meeting House on the grounds of the Shaker Heritage Society, located at 25 Meeting House Rd, Albany, NY 12211. General admission tickets are $15, $10 for students with ID, and $8 per person for groups of eight or more people. Tickets can be purchased at the door, online at https://confettistage.org/buy-tickets/, or by calling (518)-334-9132.
Confetti Stage Inc can be found on Facebook and online at www.confettistage.org.
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