Fringe Festival "Shaittie Shakespeare" review by watchNwrite

He can't do them for auditions, so he's Fringing them!

Rating: 4

Shaittie Shakespeare: The Comedy Monologues

KC Fringe Festival

 Writing a review for a one-man show is one of the easiest things to do, especially when you have the pleasure of doing it for Alan Tilson. Tilson's performance was mostly solid from head to toe...and everything in between.

 Anyone who is not a Shakespeare fan, and a well-read Shakespeare fan at that, would get a little drowsy during any Shakespeare monologue showcase. This reviewer has only read all the way through half of the pieces from which Tilson performed monologues. But not a moment of the evening was spent staring off into space about to fall asleep; every moment was spent watching Tilson do his thing.

 Just the right amount of gestures accompanied Tilson's characters, and often, they seemed to be the only possible gestures that would fit the circumstance. Starting off his monologue as Malvolio with a "come here" finger and no eye contact, for example, was so fitting that it seems improbable for anyone to do that particular moment better.  Physically, though, I would have liked to have seen Tilson leave his 4 by 4 (or whatever) platform to emphasize... Sonnet 130, for instance! For characters who wouldn't stay so stoic, leaving the platform would have added another layer and kept the excitement.

 Tilson sported a couple dialects (apologizing in advance for the somewhat mishap of an Italian dialect), and did well, for the most part, at differentiating his voice from character to character. A couple of characters sounded all-too familiar, though, and while that may be acceptable when an actor goes from play to play, it is not as acceptable when the characters are shoved next to each other in a monologue showcase. A little more differentiation would have popped the characters a bit more.

 He put a clean opening stance and a clean ending moment on each monologue, which was beautiful to see under his one drenching spotlight. So in addition to his acting, the pieces were very pleasing visually and technically as well.

Some highlights of the evening were the New York Mafioso King, Malvolio, and Sonnet 130. With some touching up and injecting of different resonances, the whole evening could have been series of highlights. Overall, though, Marilyn Strauss was right when she said "Tilson's Shakespeare is a joy to behold."

read the review at KC Stage