Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Edinburgh Fringe Festival! 
We are proud and excited to announce that we WILL be going to perform Cyranose! for the month of August in Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (as it is officially called). We were offered, and accepted a prime-time (7pm) slot at The Gilded Balloon, which is one of the top-4 venues at the Fringe. Those 4 have actually "joined forces" this year to create an Edinburgh Comedy Festival, with a joint program, which we will be a part of. Our venue within the Gilded Balloon is The Nightclub, which seats 150. Prices will be in the £8-10 range depending on the night. We cannot contain our excitement!

Meanwhile, we're happily at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire for 5 more weekends, doing 4 performances a day of our new outdoor show, "A Little Death." Yes, we'll be bringing this to the other faires this year too. It's at 1:30, 3:00 and 5:00 at the Corazon Stage, and at 5:45 for the NC-17 version on Rogues Reef Stage.

And don't forget, May 11 we're at "The Muck" doing one day ONLY of "Cyranose!"

Get your tix now!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Full of Updateyness 
Well, let's see what's new...
WE ARE IN for Southern Cal Ren Faire, starting this weekend... it looks like 3 performances daily of "A Little Death" and that's it. If that changes, you'll hear it here first. We'll be on El Corazon Stage at 3:00 and 5:00 and Rogues Reef at 5:45. A weird schedule to be sure. It looks like the 5:45 will be the "dirty version" of the show. So be sure to see both...!

Prof. Pennywhistle on Thursday nights is going on, so please join us, if you're in the L.A area (or even if you're not!) We just printed a ton of postcards which we'll have at the Faire in case you need reminding!

I've totally revamped the website (programming-wise anyway) - though it's not complete, as usual. But now everything's using php and I'll be able to do more neat coding soon, for more fun things to do.

Still working on a venue for Edinburgh this summer, so stay tuned!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Back From Australia! 
Well, we're back from performing at the Adelaide Fringe Festival for 2008. A glorious month in the very hot sun (the last 12 days or so were over 100F [40C]). We did 21 shows, visited nature preserves, Kangaroo Island, visited friends, made new friends & fans, and won an award: The BankSA Rave Review Award. Basically the "People's Choice Award" for the Fringe. So thanks to all of you who made that one possible. The trophy we received will be treasured!

Pictures from the whole trip are in the Gallery section of the site...

We're now working on several things:
1) New outdoor show for Southern Faire and for TRF entitled:
"A Little Death" (A video promo for the show is available in the video section of this site)

2) Revamping "Sherlock Holmes & the Saline Solution" for the Winnipeg Fringe Festival in July (we're officially in, at the Gas Station Theatre!)

3) Preparing for Edinburgh Fringe in August. No, we don't have a venue locked down yet, so it's still a tentative event for us.

4) "The Journeys of Professor Pleasant Pennywhistle & His Spatial Relocation Portal" returns on Thursday Mar. 27 for an extended run. A different improvised adventure each week, with guest improvisers helping out!

So much to do!

Sunday, January 13, 2008
"Cyranose!" video Trailer now up! 
Go to the Video Clips section of the site, and see our brand new promo trailer for "Cyranose!" and tell us what you think!


Plans for 2008! 
Hello Fans, Friends & Furies!
Well here we are in 2008. And if plans go as planned, it's a big year...


We start things out with a short test-run of a weekly "Steampunk" Improv show (think Jules Verne meets 'Wild Wild West') called:

"The Journeys of Prof. Pleasant Pennywhistle and his Spatial Relocation Portal"

...which will run four Thursday nights here in L.A. starting NEXT WEEK, at Fais Do-Do (our regular venue for the past 2 years). These will be completely improvised episodes each week! It will be (to start) Shelby and myself, plus at least one guest improviser. Ren Faire regulars should look for Brian "Broon!: Howard to join us for one of the weeks. Vinny will be joining us when he returns from his own excursions to Central California.

Details at steampunk.soundandfury.org




Then we take last year's award-winning show we created, "Cyranose!", to the Adelaide Fringe Festival in (not surprisingly) Adelaide Australia. We'll be there from mid-February to mid-March. Look for one night of us doing the show at Fais Do-Do in about 5 weeks to get us ready for Oz. (Also note that DVDs of "Cyranose" are now available here at our website right now! It's our best DVD ever. No, really!)


Then it's time for Southern Cal Renaissance Pleasure Faire, which all the details haven't been worked out fir yet, but our expectation is to be there as usual. Probably with a new outdoor show that we'll write whilst in Australia. Even with all our lofty plans for world domination this year, we really look forward to coming to our home faire to roost and be with our family there. (This means you) We'll also bring back Prof. Pennywhistle for an extended run until mid-July.


Then, intrepid adventurers, we're off to Winnipeg Canada again for the Fringe Fest there, where we're likely bringing a re-vamped "Sherlock Holmes & the Saline Solution" that will fit onto one stage.


And then, if all our crossed fingers and toes work their magic, we are headed for all of August with "Cyranose!" to THE EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL. That's the original, giant (over 4000 shows) theatre festival that happens each year in Scotland. It's where you can lose your shirt, or become world-famous (like our pals "Flight of the Conchords"). We're hoping for latter, not former. We will know by April or so if we get into one of the major venues there, in which case we'll be going. If not, it'll be a quiet August at home...


If things go spectacularly well there, we will have booked a UK Tour, and will be running hither and yon in the GB for several weeks. (please oh please)


Then it's happily back to the Texas Renaissance Faire for Oct/Nov, where we always have a terrific time - for those of you not in Texas, you should consider a vacation trip one weekend there. It's an amazing faire, bigger in size than Disneyland, all tree-covered and green, and a very different (but good!) feel than what you're used to in SoCal. (And you can camp and party there all weekend with the other patrons.)


Which brings us back to Xmas 2008. Not sure yet what's happening - either something self-produced in L.A., or possibly something for the Great Dickens Xmas Faire in San Francisco.

That's our year, nutshelled. There's bound to be other short-run shows stuck in there, including the oft-promised SF tour, and nights in Austin/Houston or Chicagoland. We hope you'll join us for something in all that, for we're nothing without you all, and we appreciate you more than you can imagine.


cheers,
richard
shelby
vinny

(subscribe to our regular email news channel by clicking on 'Mailing List' at the left...)

Friday, December 07, 2007
"Cyranose!" DVD Now Available! 
Just in time for Xmas shopping, we have the DVD to our 5-Star newest show NOW available! $20 (plus shipping) gets you a red hot copy of "Cyranose!" with Richard, Shelby and new full-time 3rd guy Vinny Cardinale! The DVD is over an hour and a half of entertainment, including the show, an interview with USC's Trojanvision talk show CU@USC, and out-takes from the night we shot the show. It's even formatted to look great on 16:9 widescreen TVs! Get yours now!

Click the "Buy Now!" button on the CYRANOSE.info website!

In other news
We are confirmed, and all set to head BACK TO AUSTRALIA for the Adelaide Fringe in February 2008! AND we're planning on the Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland in August - that's all still in the works though, so keep your fingers crossed that we get a good venue!

It looks like things are on track for us to be back at the Southern Cal Renaissance Pleasure Faire in the Spring, and we expect to go back to Winnipeg Canada in July (with an updated version of "Sherlock Holmes & the Saline Solution") and if we don't go to Edinburgh, then we're looking at going back to Edmonton in August.

Shortly I will have a bunch of new video up on this site, and/or our youtube account of behind the scenes stuff!
That's the news!

Tuesday, October 02, 2007
And now off to Texas! 
We head out this weekend to the Texas Renaissance Festival, and will be there for 8 weekends - mostly commuting back and forth to L.A. in the intervening weeks. We are of course glad to be going back there for something like our 6th season I think, and are excited to bring Vinny there and show him off.

In other news, we just finished a run of "Cyranose!" in L.A. which went nicely, and are already heavily into prepping for next year's season, which may include Christchurch, Adelaide, Prague, Southern Cal, Winnipeg, EDINBURGH... and then if things go well there, we'll be in europe for several weeks touring. That's the optimum best case scenario right there. Keep your fandom fingers crossed for us!

The Cyranose DVD is in the works, and should be ready in the next few weeks!

Sunday, August 26, 2007
The "Cyranose!" reviews 

5 stars from Winnipeg Free Press:

4 stars from SEE Magazine, Edmonton:

Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Cyranose goes to Edmonton! 
Next week, we go to Edmonton, to bring folks there "Cyranose!" - which we just completed showing to the folks in Winnipeg... A rousing success, we sold out all nine shows, got ourselves a "Best of Fringe!" nod, and received terrific notices in the press. Thank you as always, Winnipeg!

Now then, Edmonton - prepare yourselves, as Richard, Shelby & Jonathon Graff (joining us for these Canadian trips) come to your fair city yet again. We're at Cosmopolitan Music Society, which only seats 175, so buy your tix in advance.

And in September, look for "Cyranose!" in L.A., on Fridays and Saturdays at Fais Do-Do Ballroom (details being finalized).

Sunday, June 17, 2007
Oh Canada! 
We are now officially confirmed for both the Winnipeg & Edmonton International Fringe Festivals this summer! Both cities will get "Cyranose!" which we are (gulp!) still in the process of writing at this date - 4 weeks before our first performance in Canada! But we've cut it closer before, so I'm sure we'll be okay. ::fingers crossed::

Joining us to both cities this summer will be the nubile Jonathon Graff, who we've known for years, but have never had the opportunity to work with. Vinny had plans made previous to us meeting him, so he will be back in the Fall when we go to TRF and do "Cyranose!" in L.A.

We'll have show schedules up for the Fringes ASAP.

Looking back, we want to thank all our fans, friends and furies who supported us at Southern Cal Renaissance Pleasure Faire this year. We had a terrific time, and everyone gave Vinny a warm welcome. Things are totally on track for us to be back next year as usual. Thanks also to the Poxy Boggards, The Merry Wives of Windsor and The Belles of Bedlamfor sharing the stage so pleasantly with us!

Oh - note to Winnipeggers: We're back at Cinematheque this year, which means *only* 100 seats per show - and even though there's 9 of them, it still means every show will sell out, probably in advance, so buy your tix EARLY and avoid the horrible 2 hour lines that leave you ticketless. :-(

Thursday, March 29, 2007
Velcome to Vinny 
Sound & Fury is happy to welcome it's newest Third-Guy-in-Training, the spry Vincent 'Vinny' Cardinale, who will be joining us at Southern Cal Faire starting on the 3rd weekend. Come see us and help us put him through his paces. In the next few weeks be sure to come back and see the sure-to-be entertaining 'training videos' we'll have featuring Mr. Cardinale. Please furies, make him feel at home. You're gonna like him.

Saturday, December 30, 2006
Sherlock DVD now available! 
You can now order your copy of "Sherlock Holmes & the Saline Solution" on DVD from the product page of this website! Starring Richard, Shelby & Phil along with (gasp) an actual live actress (Jenny K.) in a supporting role. Yes, we've broken down the barrier and had someone else in the show besides us!

It runs over an hour, and has some music as usual. It's self-rated as PG-13, as usual as well.
SPECIAL INTRO PRICE OF $20 - yeah!

Monday, December 18, 2006
End of the Year Wrap-up 
Well, it's been a heckuva year for S&F - we went to Canada twice, and were "Pick of the Fringe" in both Edmonton and Winnipeg, returned to Texas Renaissance Festival, and had our first year under contract to the Arizona Renaissance Festival. There were also a couple of noticeable setbacks to our regular schedule this year, but we're working on making those missing faires happen for 2007. There's also with new stuff, including what will be 2007's new Indoor Show (so, *not* for the Faires), "Cyranose!" - the tragic tale of Cyranose de Bivouac
( www.cyranose.info), told in musical-comedy form, of course. That will likely premiere in April, in Los Angeles as a test run before we bring it to the Canadian Fringe Festivals in the Summer. Our hope of course is to bring this and our other indoor shows to other cities, if we can. I'm talking to you, Houston, Austin and San Fran.

And just an FYI, there's still time to order S&F DVDs for Xmas presents - if you order ASAP. Is that enough abbreviations and acronyms for one sentence? Heck, I wasn't even trying. Anyway, order your DVDs now at the website, under the product menu!

Saturday, August 26, 2006
"Cleopatrick" at the Indianapolis Fringe! 
We had a swell time back in Indianapolis at the Fringe Festival there, in the glorious American Cabaret Theatre! The Indy Fringe did much better this year, easily more than doubling it's attendance, and a great many folk came to see us - THANKS!

REVIEWS (from Indy):

Four stars - Nuvo Magazine

This California threesome is called Sound & Fury after Shakespeare, but they might as easily be named The Warner Brothers because they are Looney Tunes come to life. Along the way they run roughshod over the classics, the not-so-classics, dramaturgy -- or is that drama-toogy -- history, sex and politics, all the while appearing to have a mighty good time. This is irresistible hokum. These guys were fan favorites last year; they will be again this time around. Treat yourself. --DH

CLEOPATRICK: Tain't The Bard Yer Expectin'
Review by: Ty Stover, Indiana Auditions
(does not give star ratings)

As we entered the theatre, we are greeted by costumed ushers, I am thinking, this LA company has really gone all out for a Fringe show. Then I realize, the actors are seating us. Shortly, they start to do these nutty nonsensical improvs confusing me more. I am now wondering, is this the show? Ah no, warming up the crowd. Good work. And then we are off..."3 men, 6 arms, and 5 fingers of death" create hand puppetry so…uh minimalistic in nature that what is forthcoming seems pageantry. When you were a kid did you do plays in your basement that you made up as you went along and got so excited while you were doing it nothing else in the world mattered? This is the place Sound And Fury take you to with CLEOPATRICK. These guys are having so much contagious fun it is impossible not to enjoy yourself. This show is not improv but it is loose I mean the "loosest slots in town." And the laughs pay off like a loose slot machine as well. Jackpots.

This trio started out as a duo 10 years ago working renaissance fairs with their Fakespeare shows on the left coast. Founding members Shelby Bond and Richard Maritzer (Artistic Director) created Shakespeare: The Lost Episodes and in 2001 started touring the country to the Faire, Fringe and Festival circuits and have been "Lost" out here ever since. Bond says the transition from the fair atmosphere to theatre was different because with a fair you are fighting to keep the audience though the whole show since they can and do just walk away at any time. "Now we have a stage, and sound and lights, it’s a whole different thing." But, they have managed to keep that sense of immediacy and play which held me the entire time. Three years ago they were joined by east coaster moved west Phil van Hest who bears a bit of a resemblance to Chris Kattan of SNL except funny.

Did I mention these guys were funny? The plot is simple and relatively insignificant as far as I am concerned. I'd just like these guys to come hang in my living room. A parody of Cleopatra, yes, but that soon falls to the wayside of many clever and lame-made-clever musings on ancient Egypt and musical number lampoons. Political, sex and adult humor all executed adroitly. The more you give back the better they get. My moments of choice were the visit to the "oracle" or whatever they choose to call it nightly and the song on the boat (spoiler so I will stop there). Full of fun, and the most I've laughed at the Fringe to date.

REVIEWS (from last week in Edmonton, Canada):

4 STARS! Nile-ist comedy will leave you asping for air
Richard Helm, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Monday, August 21, 2006
Cleopatrick
"'Tonight, we eat meat!' declares the man in the toga, gazing out upon a packed house at the Westbury Theatre, the Fringe's biggest venue.
It should be prime rib throughout the week for the clever, bawdy lads of Sound and Fury Theatre, a trio of Los Angeles actors who are bringing down the house with an entirely silly and hugely entertaining comic romp in Cleopatrick.
The same company that brought us Canned Hamlet and Testacles in Fringes past delivers here a tale of misdirected love, intrigue and bad puns having to do with "asp." Cleo, child of the Pharaoh, is a he not a she, but must conceal his true gender from dad. Cleo is in love with Cervyx, who looks decidedly more like a he, than a she. Things get really interesting when Marc Antony, a bit iffy himself, arrives to claim Cleo for his bride.
Sprinkle in a lot of easy George Bush jokes, a melange of inappropriate accents from Scottish brogue to William Shatner, and we all sup well.
Richard Maritzer, Shelby Bond and Phil Van Hest can jam a lot of zany material into an hour and, in a value-added touch, serve as their own warm-up act in kibbitzing with the crowd as people take their seats."

4.5 Stars!
The "Fakespeare" merchants of Sound & Fury provide some good unwholesome fun with their version of the immortal story of the Queen of the Nile. Suffice it to say that hijinks, and several catchy songs ensue, and by the time it's over Richard Maritzer, Shelby Bond and Phil van Hest have worked in enough scatalogical humor, awful (and awfully funny) puns, and silly theatre business to keep a Roman army amused. This show is a must-see for anyone who wants to know how Cleo got that great asp!
-- Celia Nicholls, See Magazine, Edmonton

Wednesday, August 02, 2006
"Cleopatrick" at the Edmonton Fringe! 
Well, the Edmonton fringe is almost over (tonight at midnight-fifteen, for us), and we've had a great time! We were welcomed back by the fans that hadn't forgotten us even with a 2 year absence, and garnered a ton of new fans this year! As of this writing, we've sold-out 3 of the 6 shows we've performed (no mean feat in a 300 seat venue!), gotten some great reviews, and had a helluva fun time socializing with the locals. It's been nice to come back! Thanks Edmonton!

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