Wasn't sure if this should go here or on US board. We were in London last yr, and disappointed we didn't get tix to RSC doing the Bible or one of the others. So we were excited to hear the US troupe would be coming to Madison, WI. We got great seats, had a nice dinner beforehand, and waited anxiously. Now this is a well-educated population, w/ many many bookstores and an active theater & university scene. We walked out after 15-20 minutes! People laughed at every utterance from the 3 actors, even the Pleadge of Allegiance "gone bad". It was boring, juvenile (not in the good Monty Python sense) and unsettling at the same time! Just wondering: were we the only people to apparently entirely miss the point of this? Or could it have been the particular Great Books as opposed to other productions, or? Honestly, we had never read even one poor review of RSC, and were just wondering if we're alone. Thanks for any feedback.
Sue

Hi Sue,

>could it have been the particular Great Books as opposed to other productions, ..<

We saw the Great Books production in Madison, GA last year.

Thought it very funny, mostly.

The best parts were the occasinal fluffed line and the extempore responses.

Their Shakespeare is very good but the Bible was merely average - and very short

We found the Shakespeare and History of the U.S. quite funny.

Hi
We saw the RSC in London at the Barbacan many years ago perform a contempory version of Romeo and Juliet. It was a bad performance and shattered my illusions of them.

aeiger: This thread isn't about the <u>Royal</u> Shakespeare Company you saw at the Barbican. It is about the <u>Reduced</u> Shakespeare Company - a totally different animal . . . .