By Faye Claridge, of the site team
I went to preview The Reduced Shakespeare Company's resurrected show The Bible and decided to dig a little deeper into the Bard's briefest players.
I was intrigued that the company had left Warwickshire's almost sacred Shakespearean texts for the real thing: taking on the big boss himself.
The co-writer and director of the show, Adam Long, kindly agreed to be probed, resulting in the following revelations:
Introduce yourself with a few vital statistics
My name is Adam Long. I am 41, which is a prime number.
I am a Buddhist-Catholic and a founding member of The Reduced Shakespeare Company.
How well did you know the Bible before you decided to work with
it?
I lived in a tent on Mt. Whitney for 7 months with only the Bible and a supply of drinking water.
I made a broth of pine-needles which sustained me nutritionally.
| Μύ |  | Norman Naudin as Moses
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Which is your favourite biblical character?
Cartman.
Have you found yourselves becoming more wise as you've become intimate with the good book?
My vow of chastity forbids me from becoming intimate with the good book or any printed material.
Did you have any trouble performing the play in Jerusalem? Or has any other location been surprisingly aggressive or receptive to the show?
The only difficulty we had performing in Jerusalem had to do with finding Jerusalem.
We were touring the middle-East in my VW van. We took a wrong turn at Syria and ended up in Baghdad.
Of course, this was during the Gulf War so it presented certain problems.
The location that proved to be most receptive to the Bible show turned out to be Hyde Park Corner in London.
Have you ever performed in Shakespeare's birthplace Stratford? If so, how welcome do you feel there?
Once again, this was another case of really bad navigating on the part of the Reduced Shakespeare Company.
We were booked to play in Stratford, we mistakenly went to Stratford in East London where we ended up getting caught up in the armed robbery of a convenience store.
Due to a misunderstanding we ended up having to perform 200 hours of community service (which we are almost done with).
Do you plan to return to Shakespearean texts?
As soon as Shakespeare writes some more, we'll be the first ones performing 'em!
Which show is the most fun to perform, of your growing repertoire?
All of the shows are equally fun to perform. We've found a way of rating fun by weight, and we've discovered that ALL of the Reduced Shakespeare Company's shows come in at EXACTLY 6lbs 1oz.
Oddly this is precisely the birthweight of my son, Joe.
| Μύ |  | Simon Jermond as Mary
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Are raisins really better in California?
Yes. It was touch-and-go for a while when we moved to England, but now the doctors have put the raisins on intravenous anti-biotics and they're much better, thank you.
See the Reduced Shakespeare Company perform The Bible at the Warwick Arts Centre 29 May - 1 June 2002.
Read our exclusive preview and cast biographies by following the links on the left.
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