Where this was said
Tom Hanks Plays Falstaff: The Medical Emergency and the Shakespeare Improv
At 32:55 · chapter starts 31:28
Tom Hanks describes performing Falstaff with the Shakespeare Center Los Angeles in an outdoor VA Center garden in West Los Angeles, among eucalyptus trees. Midway through the nearly three-hour show, a man had a medical episode. EMTs arrived, the lights came up, and a 30-minute hold began. Tom and the cast waited backstage wondering whether to do something — and then Tom saw a woman reach for her purse. He sprinted out and started improvising Shakespearean commands and ridicule, telling people to sit down using whatever old-English phrasings he could summon, threatening and cajoling and ridiculing in equal measure until enough people stayed. Sean Hayes confirms it was hilarious and that Tom improvised it entirely in Shakespearean English — the thing that most impressed him.
During a nearly 3-hour outdoor Shakespeare performance at the VA Center in Los Angeles, a man had a medical episode. When Hanks saw a woman picking up her purse to leave, he sprinted onstage and started improvising Shakespearean insults to shame the audience into staying.
