8
JEbe^utUorbian
Shakespeare Co. deserves encore
Kate Gibney
Staff Writer
The Poet, of whose works I have
undertaken the revision, may now
begin to assume the dignity of an
ancient, and claim the privilege of
established fame and prescriptive
veneration...But because human
judgement, though it be gradually
gaining upon certainty, never be
comes infallible; and approbation,
though long continued, may yet be
only the approbation of prejudice
or fashion it is proper to inquire,
by what peculiarities of excellence
Shakespeare has gained and kept
the favor of his countrymen.
-Samuel Johnson,
"Preface to the Plays of
William Shakespeare"
I think it would be fair to say that
Shakespeare's "ancient dignity"
emerged from last Tuesday
evening's performance by the Re
duced Shakespeare Company
slightly smarting. But his claim to
fame for yet another generation is
more secure than ever.
Shakespeare. Say it just once in
an English class and you can hear
the groan echoing piteously from
certain comers. Even amongst sup
posed devotees of literary art,
there are those who just cannot
seem to develop a taste for the
man's work. They will be willing
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to grant that he is one of the great
est poets of the English language
but, that accolade aside, still find
themselves hard put to answer the
question: why read him?
At this point, I think that it is
only fair in the interests of honesty
to note that I am one of those
people who does anything but
groan when she sees Shakespeare
on the syllabus; the horrible truth
of the matter is I love the way the
man writes. And even more hor
rible than that, I happen to think
that everyone should read
Shakespeare just once—for the ex
perience.
But that is not a rationale that
appeals to the inveterate groaners
in the corners of the room nor to
those people who eschewed the
pain and pleasure of digesting
great literature for a degree and
became something other than En
glish majors. It is not an answer
that really appeals to anyone with
a block against the bard. But a
single performance of the Reduced
Shakespeare Company just might
be.
For one thing, the trio of Reed
Martin, Austin Tichenor, and Matt
Croke is absolutely hysterical.
Most of us never thought that ei
ther "Romeo and Juliet" or "Ham
let" could be so funny; I know for
a fact that I never imagined
Ophelia's id speaking just the way
it did that night. But aside from all
sergpecttbeg
their antics, in the gaps between
the laughter and pointed social
commentary, the Reduced
Shakespeare Company gave the
audience a glimpse of the poet. A
full house that mere seconds be
fore was in hysterics fell silent at
the sounds of Shakespeare's
words: "What a piece of work is
man...All the rest is silence."
It is all a trick. First, they dazzle
and amuse you with fantastically
camp, sarcastic skits, and then just
when your senses are lulled into
the belief that you have found the
ultimate alternative to the Royal
Shakespeare Company, it happens.
Even confirmed groaners find
themselves listening to a brief ex
cerpt of semi-serious Shakespeare.
Just a moment, of course; the men
up there are careful not to lose their
audience. But that moment is
enough.
It is enough because you leave
the theater feeling somehow that
if they could find all that in
Shakespeare, there must be some
thing there. What stand revealed
are the "peculiarities of excel
lence" which continue to assure
Shakespeare's work a place in
men's favor despite the changing
current of time and taste.
When you get right down to it,
however trite but true,
Shakespeare still has the capacity
to make one laugh as well as think
in the space of a single evening.
As successful communicators of
that, Martin, Tichenor ar l Croke
deserve an encore and, r man
aging to update the bard with
enough hilarity to entertain the
confirmed non-Shakespearian,
definitely a second night's engage
ment
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Monday Night
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F restaura
l\^eview
•Ream Thai*
Laura Davis
Staff Writer
Located next to West Market Street
One Stop (cold beverages), Ream Thai
is a divine little hole-in-the-wall Thai
restaurant run by "actual Thai people''
(quoth my friend Rachel).
Rach and I stumbled upon this place
after discovering that the Exchange,
the restaurant I was supposed to re
view, did not serve dinner on Sundays.
A few randan first impressions
this place smells absolutely WON
DERFUL! Not only does it smell
good, it's completely wheelchair ac
cessible—door handles that extend
down tow, wide doors to the laige bath
rooms (which had REAL Dial soap
and not that icky pink stuff), and tables
with plenty of room.
Aside from the standard bamboo
roll-down curtains and odd thingy
hanging from the ceiling that's re
motely Asian, little in the decor of
checkerboard floor and generic table
would suggest this is an Asian restau
rant. But the waitstaff is nice and de
spite the fact the room is somewhat
crowded with seven tables, it's not too
noisy.
On to the food Prices range from
$1.50 for soup to $10.95 for afish spe
cial. The majority of the entrees were
between 5 and 7 dollars, and this place
has THAI ICED COFFEE!!!! In case
you haven't ever had it, Thai Iced
Coffee is coffee, brewed very strong
and pretty sweet, served black with
cream floating on top that you stir in
ifttmarp U, 1994
with your straw.
Short of taking caffeine intrave
nously, this is the best, and most pleas
ant way to wake up and enjoy your
meal. Needless to say, I ordered it
Rachel ordered hot tea which she de
scribed as a "very nice tea" and abso
lutely yummy.
I was not crazy about the Rice
Noodles with Chicken I ordered. I al
ways forget rice noodles have a tex
ture I can't quite get used to. The dish
was not as spicy as I would have like,
and it had egg in it I understand put
ting egg in fried rice, but it didn't re
ally compliment the chicken.
Rachel, on the other hand, was ab
solutely orgasmic over her Vegetables
Deluxe and Vegetable Fried rice. A
Warning to vegans—the fried rice also
had egg in it—you might want to ask
specifically about each dish.
Upon hearing of my trek to Ream
Thai, Nat Gray went on an extended
tangent about how good the bean curd
was, almost insisting that I mention it
So that's another option for veg-heads
and those who just don't feel like hav
ing meaL
I didn't note the existence of a beer
a-wine list, but I'd assume they would
have at least one brand of domestic,
and maybe a Thai beer (according to
my dad, Thai beer is pretty good).
By the time Rachel and I left, the
restaurant was almost full (to its 28-
person capacity), so I think this place
will be around for a while. Until next
time, enjoy the caf and remember—
tip big.