The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

If you have always thought you would not like Shakespeare, then this is one play you have to see. At the Delaware Theatre Company, the play The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), directed by Steve Tague,will make you appreciate the humor in his works. With some of the funniest skits that I have seen in a while, they bring Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets alive.  For most of the play, the audience was laughing.

The show consisted of only three actors:  Jason O’Connell, Jeffrey C. Hawkins, and Joseph Midyettl playing all of the male and female parts. While the play progresses you really start to see how many works of Shakespeare that are going to be performed into two hours by these talented actors.

Without completely realizing it, you are already watching the play from the beginning announcements. Jason O’Connell is the first actor that the audience meets.  Mr. O’Connell begins by “reading” the traditional rules of the Delaware Theatre and soon you realize he must be part of the show.  He has many parts in the skits and is the host of the “show.”  His skill in portraying the varied characters and drawing the audience in as active participants is worth seeing. He was able to make the audience laugh at him, with him, and feel sorry for him when things were not going as he had planned.  Sometimes this happened all at once.

Jeffery C. Hawkins is the only actor whose parts are all male. The other two actors play both female and male roles.  Though he does not change genders, his performances are full of jokes and actions that make the people in the audience relate to the story line.  While Mr. Hawkins is on stage, with his smart remarks and exaggerated looks, the audience found it hard not to drown out his words with laughter.  His rap act was very impressive.

The last of the actors is Joseph Midyett, who portrays characters that are little kids at heart. From the time Mr. Midyett is overly excited; to the times that he wants to be doing something else, he adds a childlike, mischievous personality to his characters.  A personality like his makes the audiences want to listen and watch him more intently to see what he will do or say next. 

The actors were accompanied by an array of lights, designed by Troy A. Martin-O’Shia, who used the lighting to really set the mood of the scenes. With the use of blackouts, colored, and normal white lights you could tell that there was something coming, or something special going to happen. Though the lights on stage were on almost the whole time the actors were on stage they also used the “house” lights. When the “house” lights were up, the actors could see the entire audience, making the people in the audience feel a part of the play.  All three actors involved the audience to an extent that after awhile you forgot you were an audience and not part of the happenings on the stage.

The costumes, though simple, were very creative for fast changes and easy “gender changes.” Costume designer Andrea Barrier was smart not to make any of the quick changes using elaborate, complicated costumes. The costume designer created each costume so that it was easy to change behind the set and do so in little time.  To add to the humor of some of the skits, the sound designer, Christopher Colucci, used off-stage sound affects that were so well executed that it added another funny dimension. Scenic Designer Stefanie Hansen was very creative in the way that she added a modern twist to almost every play and sonnet in the Shakespearean plays. 

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