A Troupe By Any Other Name

The troupe's humble beginnings.

A Troupe By Any Other Name is currently the PPC's classical/Shakespearean theatre group, or rather, a “loose confederation of directors who wrangle various agents into doing Shakespeare.” Its performers tend to shift from performance to performance—which is understandable in such a busy environment.

As is common with theatre productions in HQ, Troupe performers usually utilise disguise generators as part of their costume. Troupe performances are usually set in unconventional locales (for Shakespearean theatre, at least) and have the actors only remove their disguises during curtain call, which makes even the casting a surprise for many audience members. The first known director to use this technique was Joel Whitegrass, in his play The Glorious Revolution, the review of which states it was meant to increase the audience's immersion and provide additional challenge for the actors; it is unknown if Whitegrass is involved with the Troupe himself, or if they are just using this technique for themselves. Because few of Shakespeare's characters have "canonical" appearances to disguise as like Discworld's characters do, the use of disguise generators might be to a more limited extent in the Troupe's plays.

The Troupe's main directors are DoI agent Sandi Rustlefeathers and former DMS agents Kate Lynn and John Naki. The latter two seem to have transferred to DoDAEG in order to have more time for this artistic endeavour.

Troupe performances are generally reviewed in the Multiverse Monitor, most recently by Nita Incog and Nim de Cagny, though presumably Stan Grayston is usually involved, as most reviews posted by the former two have cited his unavailability. The comments sections that go along with these reviews tend to provide even more insight into the performance, as they are the product of happy, confused, frustrated, and bouncy play-goers.

Performances

Note—dates listed are for the performance(s), not the article publication date.

2014

March 15-May 30

• Beware the Ides of March (alternate link)
  • Play: Julius Caesar
  • Setting: Gallifrey
  • Regenerations, disguises, and spoilers abound! Also, who is this suspiciously Stuvian guy named Titinius?
  • Bonus: Costumes and excepts from the dress rehearsal, by Huinesoron.

October 31

• Science Fiction Double Feature (alternate link)
  • Play: Technically, the Rocky Horror Show. However, this was a screening of the film adaptation, with a shadow cast.
  • Setting: Original (that is, cheesy 70s sci-fi comedy horror)
  • A Troupe By Any Other Name celebrates Halloween with a one-time shadow cast performance of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Sometime after October

• Untitled performance of Othello (mention)
  • Play: Othello
  • Setting: Telmar
  • Not much is known about this performance except that Neo Webber and Nerys Carpenter were rumoured to be playing the leads.

2013

Sometime after May

• Unknown First Performance
  • Play: Macbeth
  • Setting: Star Wars
  • There are not many details about the first performance of the Troupe except that it was the Scottish Play. Stan Grayston wasn't incredibly impressed, but saw potential for improvement.

Known Troupe Performers

Department of Bad Slash

• Luxury
  • Portia, Julius Caesar

Department of Floaters

• The Notary
  • Mark Antony, Julius Caesar
  • The Criminologist, Rocky Horror Picture Show

Special Operations Division

• Evie
  • Cinna the Conspirator, Julius Caesar

• The Fisherman
  • Cinna the Poet, Julius Caesar

Eclectic Subdivision of Advanced Species

• Jacques Bonnefoy
  • Calpurnia, Julius Caesar
  • Dr Frank-N-Furter, Rocky Horror Picture Show

Department of Geographical Abberations

• T'Zar
  • Rocky, Rocky Horror Picture Show

Department of Implausible Crossovers

• The Agent
  • Trebonius, Julius Caesar
  • Brad Majors, Rocky Horror Picture Show

• The Disentangler
  • Casca, Julius Caesar
  • Janet Weiss, Rocky Horror Picture Show

• Edgar Sullivan
  • Eddie, Rocky Horror Picture Show

• Kozar
  • Brutus, Julius Caesar

• The Reader
  • Cassius, Julius Caesar

Department of Mary Sues

• Christianne Shieh
  • The Soothsayer/Artemidorus, Julius Caesar
• Morgan
  • Caesar/Pindarus/Strato, Julius Caesar

• Omicron
  • Dr Everett Scott, Rocky Horror Picture Show

Department of Operations

• Nerys Carpenter
  • Columbia, Rocky Horror Picture Show

Special Interdepartmental Elven Languages Unit

• Gurnirel
  • Magenta, Rocky Horror Picture Show

• Naergondir
  • Riff-Raff, Rocky Horror Picture Show