PRESS RELEASE

The Reduced Shakespeare Company® Returns to Great Britain
National Tour of The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged)
Begins 4 September 2008 Stratford Circus, London

It’s Apocalypse Now as the Reduced Shakespeare Company® return to Great Britain this autumn with their hit West End production of The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged). Fun for the whole family the national tour kicks off in London at Stratford Circus on the 4th September and runs through until 30th November where the tour closes in Clacton-on-Sea. (click here for tour dates)

The original “Bad Boys of Abridgement” bring their reductive sensibilities to this irreverent celebration of “the greatest story ever accepted as fact.” Written by Adam Long, Reed Martin, and Austin Tichenor, The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) is an affectionate roller coaster ride from fig leaves to Final Judgment, and has been praised by the Sunday Times as “a slick, fast, very funny show...[featuring] skilled performers with immaculate sassy American timing.”

One of the most popular shows in the reduced repertoire of “the other RSC,” These three cultural guerillas tackle the great theological questions:

● Did Adam and Eve have navels?
● Did Moses really look like Charlton Heston?
● And why isn’t the word “phonetic” spelled the way it sounds?

Directed by RSC veteran Matt Rippy, who’s well-known to UK audiences as an actor on such shows as Torchwood and movies such as Hellboy , The Dark Knight and Beyond the Sea.

“Another relentlessly enjoyable romp.” The Guardian
“A miracle of miniaturization” Evening Standard
“If you've seen the RSC before, you'll need no encouragement to this brilliant show. If you haven't, find out what you've been missing.” Edinburgh Evening News
“Pure fun. The troupe seems more anarchic than ever.” The Washington Times
“Dare we say it? They're funnier than Hell.” Anchorage (Alaska) Press
“The laughs come like a flood. Before you finish laughing at the first joke, you find yourself laughing at the next one.” Ma'ariv News, Jerusalem

The Good Book just got better!

NOTES TO EDITORS
• The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) ran at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End in 1997.  It later ran at the Criterion Theatre in the West End from 2003•2006.
• The Reduced Shakespeare Company® has toured the world, performing in the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Ireland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Israel, Bermuda, Barbados, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand...and even New Jersey.
• The Reduced Shakespeare Company's® comedy is inspired by the Marx Brothers, Monty Python, Buster Keaton, classic Warner Brothers cartoons, the Three Stooges, Tom Lehrer, and the American electoral system.
• The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) had its official world premiere at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC in 1995.  There it was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play.
• The RSC's weekly podcast was nominated for a 2007 Outstanding Podcast Award.  It is one of the top-rated Performing Arts Podcasts in the USA, UK, Ireland, Belgium and Holland.
• For more information about The Reduced Shakespeare Company® go to www.reducedshakespeare.com  They can also be found at www.myspace.com/reducedshakespeare