How did Shakedown Shakespeare originate? What was the co-writing process like with Philip Adams?
Philip was the artistic director of Nakai Theatre and was interested in a TYA show about Shakespeare. I was spending a lot of time in Whitehorse, doing play creation projects in the schools and kids were telling me how boring they found Shakespeare. Not true, I said, everything is in Shakespeare! So we decided to write a piece as a primer for young audiences. I did most of the actual physical act of writing, Philip did most of the dramaturgy. The co-writing process actually all happened in the air, in the talking, in the talking out, of the play. And then of course Philip directed the show, which was produced at the Guild and then toured. Shakedown Shakespeare is a comedy adapted from Shakespeare’s four biggest tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Macbeth and Hamlet. Could you comment on the process of adapting tragedies into comedies? Ah, tragedy plus time. Well, it’s easier to catch flies with honey, or whatever that adage is, so it was important that it be a comedy. But comedy is
