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by Tom McGee, directed by Sarah Bruckschwaiger

Shakey-Shake and Friends, Toronto Fringe Festival, George Ignatieff Theatre Downstairs, Toronto

June 30-July 10, 2016;

Solar Stage, Best of FringeKids, Toronto

July 16-17, 2016

With Twelfth Night ... A Puppet Epic! Shakey-Shake and Friends continues to cement its reputation as the best Shakespeare-for kids company in the city.  This is its sixth Shakespeare adaptation and fourth for a comedy.  Shakespeare’s original features some of his subtlest humour and a person might think it one of the least likely to appeal to children.  Yet, Shakey-Shake blithely proves that assumption completely wrong.  

Not only does the eight-member troupe manage to cover the entire convoluted plot in only one hour, but it does so with admirable clarity.  Shakespeare himself, or rather his puppet alter-ego Shakey-Shake (Tom McGee), narrates the action and most of the dialogue is paraphrased with much of the humour for those who know the play derived from the anachronisms and contemporary lingo the characters use.  Yet, the company does keep in a remarkable number of the best-known passages of Shakespeare’s original verse so that, having well grounded children in the plot’s set-up, the verse becomes both natural and unintimidating. 

The company even adds a frame to the play with two Shakey-Shake characters, Harley (Amanda Cordney) and Zip (Megan Miles) disguising themselves to substitute for actors in the play.  This adds another layer to the play’s theme of illusion and reality. 

Much of the physical humour that will appeal to children carries references that also will appeal to adults.  The company shows rather than narrates the shipwreck that separates twins Sebastian (Shaquille Pottinger) and Viola (Miles).  When we adults see the two board the H.M.S. Titanic, we know there will be trouble.  Shakey-Shake himself plays the iceberg that splits the ship in two. 

More adult-aimed humour comes from substituting Cesario’s friend Antonio in the original with a puppet iPhone’s Siri (Graeme Black Robinson) and the money Antonio gives Sebastian with a debit card.  Illyria, however, is shown to be dangerous territory for iPhones because it is Android country. 

Many parts of the play that one might think would be cut in a revision aimed at children are not only left in but highlighted.  This includes the mistreatment of Malvolio (McGee) as a madman at the hands of Sir Toby Belch (Jeff Dingle) and Maria (Erin Eldershaw).  Shakey-Shake rightly points out that this is bullying even if Malvolio had been a “jerk” up until then.  Near the end, in the troupe’s typical mode of comic self-commentary, the amusingly self-important Shakey-Shake congratulates himself on having drawn a useful moral from the play. 

Those new to Shakey-Shake and Friends will have to get adjust to the fact that the troupe of Muppet-like hand puppets already has set personalities before they take on their roles in Shakespeare.  The puppeteers do not ventriloquize but use their mouths to speak and the rest of their bodies as the bodies of the puppet.  The entire show is characterized by an infectious sense of playfulness that successfully demonstrates what marvellous stories Shakespeare’s plays tell. 

The company recommends the play to children aged 6 and up.  Aged 8 and up I think would be more likely given the complicated amount of disguise involved in Twelfth Night and for greater appreciation of the dilemma that Viola experiences disguised as a male servant in love with her master.  Nevertheless, Twelfth Night ... A Puppet Epic! is a great way to introduce children to Shakespeare.  It clears the air of any whiff of Bardolatry for its own sake to reveal the quality that has caused Shakespeare’s plays to live on in adaptations in so many different media.  The company with great good humour proves that Shakespeare is above all a teller of great stories – a quality too often overlooked when Shakespeare is taught in schools.             

©Christopher Hoile

Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.

Photo: Zip and Shakey-Shake. ©2015 Shakey-Shake and Friends Theatre Company.

For tickets, visit http://fringetoronto.com.