July 5, 2006
SIMPSPEARE:
Homer Simpson as Macbeth? Doh! (MISHA DAVENPORT, July 5, 2006, Chicago Sun-Times)
By the pricking of my thumbs, something wickedly funny this way comes. It has been 400 years since it was first performed, but William Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth" is perhaps on the verge of re-entering the pop-culture lexicon courtesy of "The Simpsons" and Canadian actor Rick Miller."MacHomer" features "Simpsons" patriarch Homer as he is seduced by power and encouraged by his wife to seize the throne by any means necessary, including murder.
Miller performs all of the roles in "Macbeth" as characters from the hit animated show on Fox. [...]
Purists of the Bard might be quick to cry foul, but director Sean Lynch says there's nothing to worry about. Though Miller's show condenses the tragedy's five acts down to 55 minutes, the abridged version is faithful to its original source material.
"Rick has succeeded in maintaining the the integrity of Shakespeare's work," Lynch says. "Over 85 percent of the text is Shakespeare's. The last thing we wanted to do is have this come off as unfaithful to his story."
THEATER PREVIEW
'MacHOMER'
When: Tonight through July 23
Where: Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare, 800 E. Grand
Tickets: $30
Call: (312) 595-5600
The night before my Shakespeare final my Freshman year in college I still hadn't read five of the plays. Luckily, I worked in the Music Room at the Library so I just played them all at 78 and got though all five in a few hours. It sounded like cartoon characters were doing all the parts. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 5, 2006 9:50 AM
Too bad Shakespeare never had a play with characters named Alivn, Thodore and Simon. It would have heightened the high speed listening experience even more.
Posted by: John at July 5, 2006 10:48 AMIs it remotely possible to play back a recording of "Orrin" at 78 rpm and hear "Bluto"?
Posted by: Mike Beversluis at July 5, 2006 11:15 AMGive the kid credit for a very steep learning curve! Of course, the retention curve is not addressed.
Posted by: ghostcat at July 5, 2006 12:57 PMOf course, you haven't read Hamlet until you've read it in the original Klingon.
Posted by: Mike Earl at July 5, 2006 2:04 PMMissing from the online version of the story:
"Is that a dagger I see before me? Or a pizza? Pizza...mmmmmmmmm"
Ugh. Homer would never say "pizza...mmmmmmmm." He would say "Mmmmmmmmmmm...pizza."
Credibility...lost.
Posted by: the wolf at July 5, 2006 4:14 PMAs a fan of both the Simpsons and Shakespeare I saw this a couple of years ago and loved it. Mmmmmmmm.
Posted by: Drew at July 6, 2006 8:59 AM