Young Critics

Shakespeare met with contemporary culture in the new production, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged held at the Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington, DE. Written over 20 years ago as a two and a half hour composition of all of Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, histories, and sonnets, the play managed to extract the core concepts of Shakespeare’s works and convert them into more contemporary versions to keep up with the pace of today’s modern world. Using various props as they waded through the works of the great Bard, they elicited innumerable chuckles and full-blown laughs from the audience.

The entire performance was carried out by a total of three male actors, each contributing his own personality to Shakespeare’s works. Actor Jason O’Connell possessed a wonderful stage presence, managing to raise his voice to various levels as part of his comedic role and administering sarcasm in varying intensities to his fellow actors Joseph Midyett and Jeffrey C. Hawkins. Midyett very quickly became a crowd favorite with his adolescent persona that remained very silly and naïve throughout most of the production. The audience quickly related to him and responded very appreciatively with generous laughs at his quirky, heart-warming behavior. Hawkins remained, in my mind, a comedic character who also managed to maintain a façade of maturity. While he did commit himself to various witty roles throughout the works, he still remained the character with reason and common sense throughout.

The actors also managed to totally involve the audience over the course of the play, urging intrepid participation. Soliciting opinions, ushering people onto the stage, and compelling them to say various phrases while frantically waving their arms, all added to the informal atmosphere of the show. However, although attempting to create a modern intake, the quality and quantity of cultural and modern references peppered throughout the comedic appeal could very easily be taken as slightly offensive to any sensitive audience member. The amount of racial connotations at various moments of the work were very unnecessary, aimed at various communities including the “black” and “Chinese”. The possibility of sensitivities to these topics should have been considered before the addition of those lines in the production

There were no fluctuating degrees of set changes throughout the performance. Very few stage props were used except in cases in which the actors wheeled out makeshift counters or wielded various items ranging from swords to vials. Most of the visual performance was delivered through the variety of costumes worn by the actors, ranging from crowns to gowns. I believe that the most difficult aspect of the performance for the actors was a lack of a female actress in the cast. This detail, seemingly a directorial glitch, culminated as a great asset to the play, causing the production to be ten times more hilarious as the men were forced to wear wigs and dresses, speak in high-pitched tones, and construct makeshift ‘breasts’ through the handy use of tissue paper.

Through the quality laughter emanating from the audience, it was clear that director Steve Tague successfully completed his mission in creating a play that revealed assorted aspects of Shakespeare in a comedic manner. His vision to “bring Shakespeare to the people” and “make Shakespeare accessible”, was clearly ushered into reality as the audience viewed the works in ways that they had never viewed them before. Whether adding a certain twist on words, or romping into a completely new dimension by bringing Shakespeare’s age-old thoughts into those of contemporary culture, he managed to allow all audience partakers to see the Bard in an entirely new light.