A little bit of the glamour, glitz and welcome sunshine of Hollywood came to Wakefield on an extremely wet and generally horrible West Yorkshire evening earlier this week, thanks to the three members of the legendary Reduced Shakespeare Company who brought their latest production 'Completely Hollywood' to the city to brighten up a dark winter’s night! The RSC (not to be confused with the other RSC – this lot aren't by royal appointment, but they SHOULD be!) are well-known for their ability to focus a BIG topic into a concentrated two-hour chunk of energy and entertainment. Whether it's the Bible or the works of the Bard they're ready to give it a go and the greatest hits (and some misses) of Hollywood are no exception. Despite the weather outside, the RSC quickly managed to warm-up the audience inside the Wakefield Theatre Royal and Opera House with their incredibly fast-paced and fast-moving performance which had even more energy than your average Hollywood blockbuster could ever muster. Us poor saps in the audience also had to be pretty fast-thinking to be able to keep up with the gags, punchlines, quotes and allusions as the team rattled through the history of film from the dawn of silent films right up to the present day. It's slapstick all the way and the RSC team bring a whole new meaning to the phrase 'physical comedy' - running around the stage like mad things, hitting each other with sticks (it's a long story!), getting involved in Reservoir Dogs-style standoffs and just generally playing the fool in a most entertaining manner. And if you ever thought that the famous slow bullet effect from The Matrix couldn’t be reproduced on stage – think again! Keanu Reeves eat yer heart out! Even the audience get involved...but don't let that put you off. If you're one of the lucky ones, you could end up on stage as Hollywood-style film 'extras', or you could turn out to be the star of the show like Andy in the front row (who the RSC team insisted on calling 'Tony' for some strange reason) did on this particular evening! And for the rest of us, well, it was just a good laugh from beginning to end – with the audience being one of the most responsive and 'up fer it' I've experienced in a long while. This enthusiasm obviously fed-back to the guys up on stage because they, too, seemed to be getting a real kick from the whole experience and, even when things didn't go quite to plan, things were soon back on track with a snappy quip and a smile - all part of the fun! All in all, the Reduced Shakespeare Company's 'Completely Hollywood' is that cliché of clichés: an instant classic – better than many of the films they were taking the mickey out of, in fact! Not only did it bring a smile to the faces of literally everybody at the Wakefield Theatre and Opera House on a cold evening, the 'inner glow' it left behind warmed us up all the way home. Hooray for Hollywood and Hooray for the Reduced Shakespeare Company! | 
