Have a couple of hours to spare? Then why not take in the entirety of Shakespeare’s oeuvre in a single evening. This irreverent romp through all of Shakespeare’s comedies, histories and tragedies leaves audiences breathless with laughter. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] employs a madcap pace and contemporary tropes to delight audiences and demystify some of the most fundamental pieces of English theater.
The hilarity begins with a cynically narrated version Romeo and Juliet, then veers farther off the rails as the actors present Titus Andronicus as a cooking show and Othello as a rap number. Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra get very short shrift and the players liven things up by presenting the historical plays as a football game. The players tackle the Sonnets in Act II followed by a famously brief production of Hamlet.
First conceived as a 20-minute comic reenactment of Hamlet outside the San Francisco Renaissance Faire in 1981, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] ran at the Criterion Theater in London's West End for nine years and has enjoyed countless productions in multiple languages and countries all over the world. “IF YOU LIKE SHAKESPEARE, YOU’LL LOVE THIS SHOW. IF YOU HATE SHAKESPEARE YOU’LL LOVE THIS SHOW!” -The Today Show