It's not a stretch nor a leap to say that Shakespeare and superheroes have much in common. More like a very, very eensy step.
Should we start with the ample use of tights, capes, and stylish boots in both worlds? That's the obvious jumping-off comparison point, right?
You can make your own comparisons in Culver City when The Actors' Gang launches its free family Shakespeare in the Park run with a superhero-flavored "Twelfth Night."
This. Is. Awesome. (Dramatic periods required between each word to further emphasize its awesomeness.)
The play start on Saturday, Aug. 3. Time? The kid-nice hour of 11 a.m. The place? Media Park, outside the Gang's theater HQ. The price? As free as a character feels when talking to himself with no one to cast judgment.
Oh, right. That's a soliloquy, something else both the Bard's characters and superheroes tend to indulge in when Thinking Hard Things Through.
There is, in fact, a ton of declarative, arms-spread-to-the-audience soliloquizing in both the Bard's plays and tales of superheroes defending metropolises. "To be or not to be," spoken grandly by Hamlet, has a lot in common with a crusader vowing to save the city as he dramatically places his hands on his shiny Spandexy hips.
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And let's not even start on mistaken identities and mouthy characters in love. Shakespeare and superhero stories own these tropes. "Twelfth Night," by the by, touches upon both of those things, marvelously and heart-swellingly. Do you love this play? We all should. It's a gem, shiny capes or no.
"Twelfth Night: The Superhero Edition" will take to the skies -- er, Media Park -- every Saturday and Sunday morning in August.
