theater

Hamlet and Claudius engage in extreme kung fu battle, Othello dons a 'fro before sticking it to "the man," and Romeo and Juliet hit the brain buffet. Shakesploitation!, Iron Age Theatre's sold-out hit at this year's Fringe Festival, is back by audience and cast-member demand for three nights at the Centre Theater in Norristown.

Shakesploitation! is a mash-up between the brooding Bard and film genres of the 1970s. There's the blaxploitation "Grand Theft Othello," with Shaft throwbacks aplenty and a pimped-out Cassio in purple crushed velvet. Zombie thriller "Romeo and Juliet II: Apocalypse" is a tasty morsel, an entr'acte between "GTO" and the poorly dubbed "Ninja Hamlet Burning Fist of Denmark."

For the past two weeks, Shakesploitation! director John Doyle has been spending quality time in the Centre Theater, adjusting the show to a larger space and preparing for another round of pimped-out, zombie fist-crushing mayhem.

"When I read it the first time I laughed, violently," explains Doyle. "We kind of knew it was going to be a success, and the response to working together [with the actors] was so enthusiastic that we're really happy to be doing it again."

The cast of Shakesploitation! has tweaked their jokes for optimal hilarity. "A few of the choices we made that we enjoyed a lot during rehearsal didn't play as well as we had hoped with an audience," says Doyle. The cast plans to eliminate those awkward silences with better punch lines and perhaps a bit of holiday cheer (we've heard talk of Ninja Hamlet doing battle with a mini Christmas tree).

Since September's Fringe run, Doyle and Iron Age have received invitations to bring Shakesploitation! to the Edinburgh and San Francisco Fringe festivals. They have also been working alongside writer Andy Grigg on Shakesploitation! 2. This run is their last of 2005, but no need to bust out a skull and ruminate to Yorick—Shakesploitation! is likely to return next spring.

Shakesploitation!, Fri.-Sun., Dec. 16-18, 8 p.m., $15, Centre Theater, 208 DeKalb St., Norristown, 610-279-1013, www.ironagetheatre.org.