Mocketh The Weak, Hen and Chickens Theatre – Review

Pros: Shakespeare fanatics rejoice!

Cons: Confusion may arise if you are unfamiliar with Master William’s work.
Mocketh The Weak, Hen and Chickens Theatre – Review

Summary

Rating

60

Good

Something unexpectedly different and entertaining, if you are up for an Elizabethan laugh.

Mocketh The Weak is the kind of show that we should see more often in the theatre. Inspired by the work of William Shakespeare, you witness Elizabethan comedy with a modern twist that will make you chuckle. If Shakespeare were still alive today, there would be more than one TV show set around his brilliant works of art. Mocketh The Weak gives us a taste of exactly that.

The show is performed at the Hen and Chickens Theatre, which is placed directly over a pub – always a winner. You enter an intimate auditorium and are immediately transported to a ‘taping’ of an episode of a TV game show, where jesters battle to see who is the funniest of the two. You also get to see a previous love interest of theirs, without the jesters’ knowing. To find out who the winner is, audience participation is required.

I admire Catriona Clancy for taking on the brave task of delivering a comedy show entirely in Shakespearean English – certainly a challenge. The five actors (Petra Lea Verhulst, Jaymes Aaron, Srabani Sen, Chryssi Janetou and Navneet Seehra) brilliantly transport you back to Elizabethan times, even as you are sitting in the audience of a present-day TV game show. What a treat! Clancy also makes a cameo appearance as the studio manager, joined by Mark Insoll as the cameraman. They encourage the audience to participate in the performance and then it is lights, camera, action!

The performance is a taping of two episodes, where the actors swap between the roles of the jesters, the host and the ex-lovers. You see all the backstage action as well, which makes you feel like you really are in a TV audience. The only (potentially major) pitfall of the show is that, if you are not a Shakespeare admirer and you have never studied his works, it might be a tad difficult for you to get the humour and understand what is going on. Either way, if you happen to be there and have no clue what’s going on, try your hardest, laugh on and participate!

Written and Directed By: Catriona Clancy
Producer: Curious Cloud Productions
Booking Information: This show has now completed its run.