Timothy Mooney is engagingly entertaining in his one man show, Lot O’ Shakespeare.
Timothy has taken it upon himself to memorize a monologue from 44 of Shakespeare’s works, including six sonnets, performing them at random through the aid of IAGO (Bingo) balls. During the interactive show the audience plays along with their IAGO cards allowing them to win prizes. To add to the test of his ability to memorize a speech from each play, the audience can also make requests, further demonstrating that Timothy can perform the monologues on demand.
Whether Timothy took on the role of King Lear raging about his ungrateful daughters or Falstaff as he plotted to meet with two wealthy wives, the actor throws himself bodily into each act, interacting with the audience and bringing to life the greatness of his talent as well as the brilliance of Shakespeare.
The works are accompanied by a slide presentation that allows the audience to view a
sample of the written words of Shakespeare as well as take part in the performance. For example during Antony’s funeral speech in Julius Caesar, the audience took on the role of The Citizen crying out for the will to be read and revenge.
As I struggle with the memorization of anything, I find Timothy’s unique performance quite impressive, but it is his ability to make Shakespeare fun that I most admire. One does not have to understand Shakespeare to enjoy the humor and the intensity of the works making Lot o’ Shakespeare accessible to everyone.
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