The Handlebards combine bicycles with Shakespeare, and peddle their way between venues (hopefully they got a plane all the way from England, then peddled once they got here). And they take on Shakespeare like a bike with no brakes going downhill.
It's fast, it's dangerous, but it's a hell of a ride.
In a lot of ways, they reminded me of Sound and Fury... between the quick changes, the crossdressing, the audience interaction, the insanity (plus the Shakespeare)... which is an excellent thing.
Our Bards (based on their socks and braces colours) were Ross Ford (the green bard), Mark Collier (the blue bard), Will Fawcett (the red bard) and Luke Wilson (the purple bard)... and they were amazing.
Twelfth Night isn't the simplest of Shakespeare plays... there's a lot of she's pretending to be a he and he's in love with her but she's in love with him... made even worse when you only have four actors playing all the roles. I say worse... it was manic and I loved it. Especially when there are four actors on stage but a minimum of eight character. And that each of the bards took on at least three characters over the course of the show.
It was also interesting that their characterisations (and costumes) were so good that you always knew exactly who they were, even if that bard had only been on stage seconds before and had rushed off one side and come back the other side.
I will say that Ross as Lady Olivia was my personal favourite, but everyone was fantastic, especially Mark as both Viola and Olivia's maid, plus Luke as Malvolio and Will as the jester.
What I was especially impressed by was that even when they were neck deep in quick changes, swapping characters and running around like maniacs, they still kept their performances going... and making sure you're actually performing, nailing your comedic timing AND getting the Shakespeare right isn't easy.
But they do it exceptionally well.
This was their first time at Fringe, and I hope we'll be seeing them again for years to come.
yani's rating: 5 bells out of 5
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