William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play

by Reed Martin, Austin Tichenor

Discovered in a treasure-filled parking lot in Leicester, England (next to a pile of bones that didn’t look that important), an ancient manuscript proves to be the long-lost first play written by none other than seventeen-year-old William Shakespeare from Stratford. We are totally not completely making this up. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S LONG LOST FIRST PLAY (abridged) is the literary holy an actual manuscript in Shakespeare’s own hand showing all his most famous characters and familiar speeches in a brand-new story. But because it’s one hundred hours long and contains multiple unwieldy storylines, it was decided, as a public service, to abridge it down to a brief and palatable ninety-minute performance for this lost masterpiece. “Something wickedly funny this way comes!”The New York Times “A breathlessly irreverent, pun-filled romp!”The Washington Post “A top-notch comic deconstruction of Shakespeare!” The Stage—U K

Genres: Humor, Plays

118 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2018

About the author

Reed Martin co-created and performed in the original productions of The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged), The Complete History of America (abridged), Western Civilization: The Complete Musical (abridged), All The Great Books (abridged), and Completely Hollywood (abridged). He contributed additional material to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).

Martin is a managing partner of The Reduced Shakespeare Company and has performed at Lincoln Center Theater, London's West End, Kennedy Center, Seattle Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, California Shakespeare Festival, McCarter Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Old Globe Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The White House and Madison Square Garden, as well as in 11 foreign countries. He toured for two years as a clown/assistant ringmaster with Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Circus. His voice was heard in the animated feature film Balto and just about every other part of him was seen in the British film Carry On Columbus.

Martin has written for the BBC, NPR, Britain's Channel Four, RTE Ireland, Public Radio International, The Washington Post and Vogue magazine. With Austin Tichenor he co-authored the book The Greatest Story Ever Sold, published by John Knox/Westminster Press. His work has been nominated for an Olivier Award in London and a Helen Hayes Award in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and has a BA in Political Science/Theatre from UC Berkeley, an MFA in Acting from UC San Diego and is a graduate of Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Clown College. He is a former professional minor league baseball umpire. Martin lives in Northern California with his wife and sons.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Jenn

Reviews

[MB Shakespeare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious! Great for Shakespeare fanatics and newbies alike! Couples myriad characters and plays from the Bard with pop culture.

[Prof. Cue · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 Stars

A lot of fun things in this play!!! Highly enjoyed it!!

[Fallon Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this play and saw it at the NJ Shakespeare Theatre. It was so funny - I was crying from laughing so hard.