Shakespeare's Comic Olympics

by Chris Coculuzzi, Rob McKee, Nathan Shrubsole

Swifter. Higher. Stronger. Funnier! Another four summers have passed and with it come the age-old Games known for it’s athletic achievements, dedication, perseverance, and…urinating into little cups. As the comically-charged competition hurdles forward, teams from Greece, England, France, and Italy showcase their top athletes in such standard events as Love Letter Relay, Infidelity Aquatics, Shooting Love Riddles, Cross Dressage, and the crowd favourite Clown Decathlon, all culminating in the always physically demanding Marital Marathon. Add to the mix such demonstration sports as Bear Baiting and Rodeo Shrew Taming and the Slapstick Shenanigans erupt with more hilarity than you can shake a Shtick at!

Upstart Crow Sports Network (UCSN) proudly brings you Shakespeare’s Comic Olympics, a clever hybrid of improvised sporting play and spectacle theatre transforming Shakespeare’s Comedies and Romances into Olympic events. Ben Jonson and Jack Falstaff provide all the play-by-play colour commentary with interviews and updates from that on-the-track historian/reporter Raphael Holinshed, as Olympic athletes overcome incredible obstacles and comic feats of timing in their quest for that coveted Ring Finger Gold!

68 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2005

About the author

Chris Coculuzzi works as an educator for the Toronto District School Board and was a co-founder and member of an independent democratic school from 2003-08. He also works in theatre as a producer, director, actor, and playwright. He is the co-author and editor of the Shakespeare's Sports Canon series of five plays: Shakespeare's Rugby Wars, Shakespeare's World Cup, Shakespeare's Gladiator Games, Shakespeare's Comic Olympics, and Shakespeare's NHL (National History League). Other adaptations include Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and an abridged version of Cyrano de Bergerac (co-authored with Roxanne Deans).