Critic's Pick
Carl’s 80-minute solo is as much stupid fun as its title suggests. Employing paper puppets (bearing the actor’s face, of course) and interactive video, Carl, a man who can confidently place “Gary Busey Impersonator” at the top of his CV, and director Michole Biancosino take us on a psychotic ride through the tragedy’s five acts. It’s crazy hilarious.
Best Bet!
Unabashedly funny and conceptually ingenious solo comedy about two of history’s most influential English speaking talents—William Shakespeare and Gary Busey.
David Carl is a snarling, hillarious maniac. He keeps Busey intense and larger than life, but never over the top. Carl’s timing is spot on, relentless, and never over-indulgent. In his portrayal of the cult idol, David Carl finds gritty soul and howling truth.
A NEW YORK TIMES RAVE!
It’s a deliciously deranged performance.
Mr. Carl, who bears a resemblance to a young Mr. Busey, is always in complete control as he races through this out-of-control performance, relating the action of “Hamlet” with the aid of paper dolls and video projections. He and the director, Michole Biancosino, know just how far to let things run off the rails before bringing Mr. Carl back on point by having him deliver some actual Shakespeare, which he does trippingly. It’s a head-spinning performance.
5 stars!
It’s a surprisingly close working of the play, as ostensibly each act and scene is performed to some extent. Although with some notable moments of hilarious adaptation.It’s the truest sort of manic Fringe comedy theatre. Bafflingly bizarre and pant-soilingly hysterical from the first moments, till the improvised Q&A session at the end. This is a show that may seem like a clash of ideas, but Shakespeare has never met Hollywood this entertainingly before.
Carl has clearly done his homework, nailing down everything from his mannerisms to his screech to his teeth. The writing of the piece is near perfection. Director Michole Biancosino guides Carl with great ease. Biancosino knows how to give each Busey bit a different direction. The video design by Carl and Jeanette Sears is hilarious with the added bonus of seeing Carl’s painted Buseyisms. The fight sequence is one of the greatest moments of the show. The title alone is a reason to be intrigued. You should be fearful before entering Gary Busey’s One Man Hamlet (as performed by David Carl). But when the show concludes, you’ll be pleasantly surprised just how brilliant Carl’s performance is.
5 stars!!!
70 batshit-crazy-hilarious minutes, interrupted a time or two by some unexpectedly sensitive delivery of the Bard’s most famous soliloquies…. A mighty tornado of words, images and explosively funny details.
David Carl’s Gary Busey’s One-Man Hamlet is definitely OTT. Ambitious, audacious, kitsch, slapstick, and extremely energetic. Bravo.
Carl has re-written Shakespeare as a romping, tongue-in-cheek expose of Busey’s life and career – drawing fodder from current Kardashian events as well as just about every other play, film, TV show, and epic ever created. And he’s done well.
“If YOU fancy a madcap, unpolished but defiantly unpretentious reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy, this ramshackle one-man Hamlet is for you.”