Shakespeare in LA

Who says there isn’t a Santa Claus? Combined Artform/Theatre Asylum have announced that they are bringing back Pulp Shakespeare (or Bard Fiction), adapted by Ben Tallen, Aaron Greer & Brian Watson-Jones directed by Ovation Award winning director Amanda McRaven. The show will open Thursday January 15, 2015 at Theatre Asylum in Hollywood, and run Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm through March 8.

Ever wonder what Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece Pulp Fiction would be like reimagined by the immortal William Shakespeare? Pulp Shakespeare weaves the stories of a pair of murderers, their boss’ alluring wife, and a desperate knight, together in a style that only Tarantino (and Shakespeare) could conceive. Pistols are traded in for daggers, cars for horses, and the ‘Royale with Cheese” for “Hachis Parmentier.”

Reprising their roles from previous productions, Aaron Lyons (Vincenzio de la Vega), Dan White (Julius Winfield) and Christian Levatino (Butch “Butcher” Coolidge) are joined by a new ensemble of talented actors that includes Julia Aks, Drew Derek, Victoria Hogan, Matt Hudacs, Dylan Jones, Marcelo Olivas, Gary Poux, Ian Verdun. The production is stage managed by Emily Gibson and produced by Matthew Quinn and Aaron Lyons. 

In 2008, Kevin Pease published a blog post with a few lines of Pulp Fiction translated into Shakespearean-style dialogue. The post went viral and Pease eventually created a wiki for others to add onto what he’d started. After a few weeks and only a few rough scenes written, interest died down. That’s when Aaron Greer approached Ben Tallen and Brian Watson-Jones with the idea of continuing the project, saying that it was simply “too good an idea not to do.”

The three edited and reworked the pieces that had been written and created the remaining scenes to finish the play they called Bard Fiction. Along with Noë Tallen, they produced the play as part of the 2009 Minnesota Fringe Festival where the play received rave reviews and sold the highest number of tickets of any show at the ’09 festival.

In 2010 it was part of the Hollywood Fringe with additional script changes, directed by Jordan Monsell, who renamed it Pulp Shakespeare. Matthew Quinn came on board after the Fringe and extended the show for a successful 5-month run.

PULP SHAKESPEARE
January 15 – March 8, 2015 (opening Saturday Jan. 17)
Theater Asylum
6320 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood, CA. 90038
Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm.
Reservations : (800) 838-3006
Tickets: $20 online; $25 at the door. To purchase tickets, visit www.combinedartform.com or http://bit.ly/PulpShakes15