Shakespeare would have loved this. The high spirits and high jinks of this frenetically paced production never flag. Every single scene is a highlight.
The repartee is inspired. Insults and jokes fly forth relentlessly. The language is a revelation: using metaphor to mock the Bard's endless use of metaphor, having characters other than Will himself see potential scenarios for plays in the circumstances surrounding the. where he sees none: a hint at Shakespeare's perennial looting of other people's stories for his plays? Using political incorrectness, the role of women, to mock political correctness.
The actors are all magnificent, Mitchell as Will, of course, and the actors playing Greene, Will's nemesis, and Marlowe, his pal Kit who gets Will to write his plays, are particularly good, very very impressive.
The famous sonnets also get lampooned. Brit comedy at its richest, wittiest and most effective. Better than Blackadder.
Review of Upstart Crow
