Current Production: Available May 2009
l to r: Wall, Pyramus, Shakespeare, Thisbe, and Lion.
Utah Marionette Theatre’s production of William Shakespeare’s Half Hour Comedy Hour, is an interactive theatre performance mixing marionettes with audience participation.
Set in Elizabethan times, the show is a live variety/talk show hosted by William Shakespeare, and includes elements from modern late night talk shows as well as the old radio shows from the 1940s and earlier.
The format will include an opening monologue, period commercials, a play within the play, interviews with famous people of the day, and possible musical numbers. The script is mainly taken from the actual words of Shakespeare with some modernisms sprinkled throughout. Some members of the audience will be invited to participate in the show by voicing characters, making sound effects, and possibly manipulating marionettes.