Young Critics

The Bard could easily be rolling over in his grave in response to Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield’s The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), just as I rolled in my seat: hysterically laughing, of course.

The Complete Works provides a Monty Python-esque take on Shakespeare. Each aspect of the show was spoofed, not just the plays themselves: everything from the opening turn-off-your-cell-phone speech to the onstage camaraderie of the actors drew laughs. This very friendship is, in fact, what connected me to the actors, and kept the audience’s attention. It wasn’t as if you were simply watching a story being told, but instead you were personally immersed in the action.

In order to modernize the often confusing works of Shakespeare, several modern elements were employed, including a rap, political comments, and many other pop culture references. These parts of the play, however, are undoubtedly rewritten for each run of the show, pulling in events that occurred just months before the performance. This gives the impression that it could be more closely identified with a show that spoofs current events, with comments making fun of Britney Spears’ most recent debacle at this year’s Video Music Awards, or subliminal messages swaying viewers to “vote Obama”.

Credit must be given to Troy A. Martin-O’Shia, fondly referred to as “Bob” by the actors throughout the show, for responding to the frequent light-change requests given spontaneously. The house lights remained on for a significant portion of the show, in an effort to keep the audience alive and a part of the performance. Stephanie Hansen designed a very simply laid out set, usually standing on its own without any props so that all of the attention was focused on the actors (not that they needed any assistance). The costumes, particularly the women’s dresses, were hilariously over the top – an obviously intentional choice of Andrea Barrier’s, one which illustrated the fact that women were not permitted to act during Shakespeare’s time. Christopher Colucci’s sound design stood out the most as a whole new layer of pop culture references, using snippets such as the Jaws theme and the shower scene song from Psycho to help audience members catch on to each allusion.

Certainly, Long, Singer, and Winfield wrote The Complete Works with Shakespeare in mind, and attempted to make it accessible to anyone watching. Although it would hold up in any audience, viewers are not likely to walk out of the theatre with any more Shakespeare knowledge than they walked in with.

Each of the individual plays performed were obviously not meant to be acted with perfection – the mere thought of three actors attempting to cover a full show (let alone every full show Shakespeare ever wrote) inspires a laugh. However, the comedic timing of Jeffrey C. Hawkins, Joseph Midyett, and Jason O’Connell was spot on, and the show couldn’t have been a success without the ease in which they fell into their respective roles. Much of the performance involved audience participation, which can be a risky move; if viewers are uncooperative, or simply not what the actors expect, the actors must continue on with what they can salvage. Hawkins, Midyett, and O’Connell went above and beyond this, and used all that they were given as a positive addition to their performance. They also showed outstanding versatility, proving to be excellent rappers, puppeteers, women, professional fencers, and much more – all while staying perfectly in character.