The play “Kill Shakespeare: The Live Graphic Novel” came to Oswego State this past Thursday, Feb. 20. 

The play itself is based on the novel “Kill Shakespeare,” in which the protagonists of Shakespeare’s plays are pitted against the antagonists of his plays in a fictional world. The performance at Oswego State was directed by assistant professor of dramaturgy, theatre history and criticism Toby Malone, who was also the dramaturg for the original performance of “Kill Shakespeare: The Live Graphic Novel” in 2011. Projections were done by professor Patrick Mathism, and in charge of the live foley sound was professor Toby Malone.

According to Malone, a lot of times people do not necessarily understand what is meant when they first hear “live comic book,” but it makes sense when they see the show come to life.

“I think it’s really fun,” Malone said. “I think when people hear about the play, they’re not sure what to expect because ‘Kill Shakespeare’ isn’t a mainstream comic book necessarily … so generally when people first hear of it, they think ‘oh, a live comic book, what does that mean?’ But once you see the comic book panels projected on the big screen, then voiced by actors, people get really excited, and it’s really fun.”

A unique element of the production would be the use of various multimedia elements to bring the story to life. As an example, the play consists of projections of comic book panels voiced by actors. The plot follows the storylines of Hamlet, Othello and Juliet facing off against Lady Macbeth, Richard III and Iago. 

“Myself and Anthony have been working together for a bunch of years in Toronto,” Connor McCreery, co-creator of the graphic novel Kill Shakespeare, said. “Anthony [Del Col] and I were trying to think what can we do that’s an idea we really like, but that we can actually have something tangible rather than just, ‘hey a couple of scripts that never got produced’ kind of thing. So we were talking about the movie ‘Kill Bill’ … and we were brainstorming ideas, [for example], ‘could you do a video game based on ‘Kill Bill?’

 McCreery and Del Col continued playing with the idea, with it ultimately evolving into “What if it was Kill Billy Shakespeare?” Both decided it was a fun idea, and then developed the story.

 “This is where we first met Toby,” McCreery said about the original adaptation of the novel to a play. “Toby was this experienced dramaturg, and he saw these two guys, you know kids really, who were hopelessly over their heads in terms of trying to figure out how to create a stage play, and he really helped us put it together, so it was a very collaborative piece from the get go.”

Malone’s approach to the play is not to try to do anything big and impressive for the sake of doing so, but to simply try to tell and enhance the story.

From the imaginations of McCreery and Del Col, the graphic novel “Kill Shakespeare” has entertained thousands of readers. Further adapted to theater, the play has brought the comic to life, and now it has come to Oswego.

“I think this performance of ‘Kill Shakespeare’ is going to be unlike any of the performances that have come before,” McCreery said “and that’s not as a swipe at those other performances which were incredible, but I think this is going to put a whole new chapter into what this play could be.” 

Image from SUNY Oswego Theater Department