play of 59:59 duration produced in 2007 at Mixed Blood and the Bryant-Lake Bowl
based on the 1873 novel (with a similar title) by Jules Verne
full video on YouTube
review in Talkin’ Broadway
“It’s a jolly, funny and thrilling ride through a piece of fiction that is far stranger than any of the films.”
Jules Verne’s classic adventure novel is a very big story that has been made into two very long (and very boring) movies. Inspired by the 60-minute limit that the Fringe imposes on most of its shows, Hardcover Theater has posed itself a challenge: to tell this story in less than an hour, using only five actors.
Thus, as the characters race around the world, the actors race against a digital timer. The result is an amazingly fast-paced play, full of action, comedy, and imaginative staging. From a gentlemen’s club in London to the jungles of India, from a Chinese opium den to the American Wild West, Around the World in Eighty Days in Under Sixty Minutes delivers fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds of breathless fun. Suitable for all ages.
cast: 4M, 1F
written for a bare stage with cubes
also available in a 35-minute version
