Advertisement

Culture Stage

Fringe Review: Shakespeare Crackpot

SHAKESPEARE CRACKPOT by Keir Cutler. Robert Gill Theatre. July 5 at 6:15 pm, July 7 at noon, July 8 at 4 pm, July 9 at 1:45 pm. Buy tickets. Rating: NNN


Keir Cutler’s latest Shakespeare-themed Fringe show rehashes some of his earlier material by sending up his smug and self-satisfied university profs, as he did in Teaching Shakespeare, and tackling the authorship question, as he did in Is Shakespeare Dead?

It’s all to demonstrate that a lot of formal education encourages the memorization and regurgitation of facts rather than independent thinking and critical thought.

Cutler doesn’t quite connect to his material – there’s a lack of spontaneity to his performance. And there’s not much to look at in the show there’s no reason for this to be a piece of theatre and not an essay.

The best moments come from Cutler’s stories about the marketing of the Bard in Stratford-upon-Avon. And there’s genuine warmth in his tales of his own remarkable parents, who defied the limitations of their upbringing to achieve great things in their fields.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted