SHAKESPEARES GHOSTBUSTERS by the company (The Coincidence Men). At Tarragon Mainspace. July 10 at 4:30 pm, July 11 at 4:45 pm, July 13 at 1:45 pm, July 15 at 9:15 pm, July 16 at 1:45 pm. See listing. Rating: NNNN
What if Shakespeare had written Ghostbusters (the 1984 version) as a play?
The Coincidence Men, a group of veterans of Torontos improv and sketch comedy scene, gives you a chance to find out in this hilarious escape from reality. It’s a show no comedy buff will want to miss.
For most of the audience the main attraction is seeing a favourite movie performed live on stage. The group recreates the films special effects with inventiveness, handily overcoming a tiny budget. Yet rewriting the story in the style of Shakespeare focuses attention as much on the language as on the action. Humour constantly flows from the clash between antiquated speech and sci-fi lingo, as well as from modern terms translated into supposed Shakespearean formulations. Thus the title characters become The Busters of Ghost.”
Kerry Griffin as Venkman, Ralph MacLeod as Stantz, Robert Hawke as Spengler and Tim Blair as Zeddmore make just as good a team as did their film originals, and Jennifer Goodhue subbing for Patrice Goodman is fantastic as the demon-possessed Dana Barrett (originally played by Sigourney Weaver).
So visit a a newly poeticized 1980s when the being bent on destroying the world was only a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
