The Great Shakespeare Showdown – theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall
The Great Shakespeare Showdown is a brisk, crowd-pleasing slice of Fringe theatre that knows exactly what it is: a daft, affectionate celebration of Shakespeare, showmanship and frontier bravado. Set in Leadville, Colorado, in 1882, Dennis Elkins’ comedy imagines a town so besotted with the Bard that its silver miners can quote him as readily as they can swing a pickaxe. It is a wonderfully odd premise, and the production leans into that oddness with infectious confidence.
The show’s central contest pits English thespian Sir Charles GoodKnight (Dan Morrison) against American stage star Harriet Twelvetrees (Kate Poling) in a verbal shoot-out of quotations, insults and theatrical one-upmanship. Around them, Billy (Mel Schaffer) acts as master of ceremonies, inviting the audience to cheer,...