Writers: Michael Doherty and Will Mobley
Director: Matthew Decker
The Bard still rules when staged well and Dogberry and Verges Are Scared is a case in point. When comedian-slash-writer Michael Doherty teams up with veteran icon of the Reduced Shakespeare Company Austin Tichenor, what you get is 80 minutes of uninterrupted, sparkling chemistry and natural, uninhibited fun. This is how rewritten, modern Shakespeare should look!
The premise is deceptively simple yet profoundly effective: borrowing Tom Stoppard’s idea of taking two minor characters from Hamlet and turning them into the protagonists of a new narrative, Doherty’s text, written together with the equally gifted Will Mobley, reimagines the shenanigans of Much Ado About Nothing from the metaphorical wings, where two—for all intents and purposes—Shakespearean fools await to make their next entrance. Dogberry and Verges are not merely waiting, however: they are trying to make sense of the events unfolding around them while desperately attempting to prove their worth as constables of the law. Only their bumbling actions, misplaced confidence and spectacular incompetence make them possibly even more memorable than the Bard’s original work.
This is not one of those artificial Gen Z reinterpretations of Shakespeare – some of which make us cringe, others barely laugh. This is clearly the work of an experienced ensemble that has toiled hard to give the play the shape it has today. What shines is the engaging, text-based humour, the incredibly dynamic wordplay, the intentional malapropisms and malaphors (misused words and mixed-up idioms, for those who weren’t paying attention in English class), and, last but not least, the intelligent and vulgarly pleasant gags and physical comedy that the duo never seem to tire of delivering.
A trait possibly (and fortunately) inherited from the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s playful restaging of the Bard’s major works, Dogberry and Verges Are Scared (the title being, of course, a subtle nod to Stoppard himself) is not just senseless parody with no reason or substance, but an intelligently motivated spoof solidly based on Shakespearean tradition. The reason it does well as text and performance alike is that it engages the classicism of Shakespeare’s works rather than putting it down, taking inspiration from it just enough to make it palatable to modern audiences while allowing the wit of the original to shine through. Put even more boldly, the Bard himself might have recognized this rewrite as a parallel plot not too far removed from his own universe.
Although aptly described by its own producers as a “Shakespearean Dumb and Dumber” of sorts, this production proves its effectiveness through the attention to detail and reverence for language it demonstrates. Tichenor’s renowned histrionics and Doherty’s energetic, like-minded theatricals are a delight, with the two almost on equal footing rather than locked into the mentor-student dynamic one might have expected. Finally, they are supported by a strong, racially diverse ensemble which, under Matthew Decker’s almost perfect direction and pacing, helps make this the kind of show one has less and less of a chance to see at the Fringe these days, or, really, anywhere else on the contemporary stage.
Runs until August 30 | Image: Contributed
