PSITTACUS presents "A Tale Told By An Idiot"

@ the first annual Hollywood Fringe Festival

Inspired by William Shakespeare
Directed by Robert Richmond

The Lounge Theatre
6201 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Friday, June 18 @ 8pm
Saturday, June 19 @ 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, June 20 @ 3pm and 8pm

* * *

“Terrorists want a lot of people watching, not a lot of people dead…terrorism is theater.”
- Brian Michael Jenkins, Adviser to U.S. Dept. of Defense


PSITTACUS PRODUCTIONS is proud to present our premier production: “A TALE TOLD BY AN IDIOT” at the first annual Hollywood Fringe Festival.

MACBETH is the story of a man who murders his king and usurps the throne. For Elizabethan audiences, this would have been tragic, but not unfamiliar. Today, we would consider this an act of “terrorism.” A TALE TOLD BY AN IDIOT uses Shakespeare’s MACBETH to explore the notion of Terrorism as Performance, and to imagine the “stage fright” that might visit the terrorist as they plan their action. A TALE TOLD BY AN IDIOT brings to life the shattered mental state of a Terrorist on the eve of their Performance.

Shakespeare wrote MACBETH sometime between 1603 and 1611. Throughout the play are veiled references to The Gunpowder Plot, a 1605 attempt to blow up King James, his court, and Parliament. Guy Fawkes, the plot’s mastermind, spent the night before the attempted bombing in the cellars beneath Parliament, setting up explosives, and waiting to light the fuses that would end his life, along with those of his victims. In a sense, Guy Fawkes was the original suicide bomber.

Stylistically, this play is a comic book brought to life on stage. As the story unfolds, Macbeth/Fawkes himself is terrorized by floating daggers, women walking up walls, the graphic strangling of a child, and a demonic possession. Using fragments of the original text of MACBETH, A TALE TOLD BY AN IDIOT is both a meditation on terrorism and an experiment in the power of theater artists to electrify an empty space.

A TALE TOLD BY AN IDIOT uses bodies, music, and light to transport the audience to a world where dream-logic reigns, and one can no longer fully trust one’s own senses.


* * *

PSITTACUS PRODUCTIONS Mission Statement:
• Connect with our community and share our passion for the live, in-person experience unique to the theatrical art form by producing plays from the classical canon;
• Investigate the ways in which our perceptions of “The Classical” have been altered by living in the 21st century by producing new stage and multi-media works;
• Create a laboratory environment wherein we ask the question, “What Is a Classic?” and engage our community by conducting education and outreach activities.

PSITTACUS PRODUCTIONS is a 501c3-pending organization. All donations are tax-deductible, and will be acknowledged in company literature. Checks or money orders may be sent to:

PSITTACUS PRODUCTIONS
237 S. Avenue 51,
Los Angeles, CA 90042