A ‘foolish’ rendition of Shakespeare tales

If William Shakespeare met the creators of “Avenue Q,” then “Fool” by Christopher Moore would be a bundle of joy. The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey held a book tour hybridized with a script-reading and titled it “Knaves, Thieves and Treachers: An Evening with Christopher Moore.”
The theater was packed and brimming with laughter the whole night as Moore spoke of his “revenge on the Brits after waiting thirty years” with his new book, “Fool,” a comedic spin off of “King Lear.” While doing so, The Shakespeare Theatre actors gave creative voices to the characters in short excerpts from the book. The evening proved to be a memorable one with colorful characters, witty quotes and dirty humor.
The court jester “Pocket” started off as a nameless character in William Shakespeare’s plagiarized play, “King Lear.”  However, when Moore caught a glimpse of the jester, he had plans to make him the star. Pocket, played by Christian Conn, narrated the book with a voice similar to a college student. With a dirty mindset and sex drive to boot, he flirted and caressed King Lear’s three daughters as well as the three witches who were slipped into Moore’s story from “Macbeth.”
The loyal friend Drool, played by Jay Leibowitz, adds humor in his own way, while reminding the audience of the sweet but simple Lenny from “Of Mice and Men.” According to Moore, the difference between Drool of “Fool” and Lenny from “Of Mice and Men” was that “the big guy gets laid a lot in his version.”
The main ingredient to making the characters of “Fool” memorable stems from the actors’ and author’s witty quotes. The sarcasm and humor dripping in the lines of the book put the audience in stitches of laughter, while also boosting the company’s strong performance of the evening.
Before love is lust, though, and lust has a strong grip in the book-theatre tour’s positive feedback from the fans. With Pocket and Drool seducing every woman they encountered, Moore also added his own thoughts of how Shakespeare could have been better, for example, are making the witches of “Macbeth” smoking hot lesbians, or having Hamlet go to the grocery store and choose between paper or plastic with a magic eight ball. He also mentioned why other excerpts of the book were not added due to “them being naked.”
Naked or clothed, during the question and answer session the audience made it clear that a play based off of “Fool” is desired due to the spectrum of characters, smart quotes, and sexual innuendos.
Now, people can catch glimpses of “King Lear” in a comedic way from the viewpoint of Pocket, the zero-to-hero jester in Christopher Moore’s book, “Fool.”