BY RICK PENDER

Photo By Rich Sofranko

In The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged), Sly Little offers an unusual interpretation of Juliet, narrated by Chris Guthrie. Brian Phillips (on the floor) is Romeo.

Good writing can be the foundation for good theater. Good acting in combination with good writing often produces great theater. When the actors are so familiar and attuned to clever material that's perfect for them -- which is the case The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) staged by the "Reduced Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival," in reality the summertime production of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival (CSF) -- the result is hilarious excellence.

Of course, we've seen this before, and not all that long ago, in fact. CSF produced a delightful rendition of Compleat Works in December 2000, intimating at the time that it could become a holiday staple on their season. (In fact, they found something that works even better for December 2001, Tom Mula's Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, which returns for the holidays this year.) In 2000, Compleat Works featured three company regulars -- mercurial Giles Davies (who's moved on to new challenges), witty Nick Rose (who's left CSF, although he'll be back as Marley in December), and comical Sylvester "Sly" Little Jr. -- and I loved what they did.

But this summer (the production runs until Aug. 18) the new staging is possibly even funnier. Davies and Rose have been replaced by Christo-pher Guthrie and Brian Isaac Phillips, the core of CSF's acting company for the next season. And Sly Little is back, with more verve and confidence. It's a joy to watch these guys render 37 plays (plus the sonnets and a few works of dubious authorship) in less then two hours.

Phillips opens with a curtain speech, often handled by CSF's fast-talking artistic director Jasson Minadakis (who directed this production). About three minutes in, you realize he's pulling your leg. Each actor in Compleat Works distills a dimension of his personality for his character: Phillips gives us a brooding, constipated guy who's kind of pissed to have gotten into this. It's a very funny extension of several characters he's played this year, including the withdrawn son in Nocturne, the preoccupied mathematician in Arcadia and a resentful philosopher in Chagrin Falls. Of course, Phillips occasionally drops the persona for a moment of distinctive fun -- such as a very vacant Romeo.

Guthrie's take on his character is one part hyperactive (a bit of the crazed good nature he conveyed as a prison guard in Chagrin Falls) and one part histrionic (not unlike the teen-ager he portrayed in Fuddy Meers). He's especially funny as Hamlet, when he takes familiar speeches and emotes, pushing them beyond trite -- complete with waving arms, dramatic poses and eyebrows arched over wide eyes.

But funniest of all is Little. His manic character in 2000 has expanded: With reckless abandon, he throws himself physically into the silliest of circumstances. For instance, wearing bad wigs and ill-fitting dresses, he plays Ophelia and Juliet as screaming neurotics. He keeps forgetting the details as he jives around the stage, exhibiting joints most normal humans don't know they possess. At other moments Little's heroines get so riled up that their fluttery stomachs get the best of him (and the worst of audience members seated in the front few rows). And when he misinterprets selected famous lines ("Call me but love," Phillips' Romeo chastises him, which Little turns into a rude comeback), you'll be laughing out loud.

The real fun in this production is that Phillips, Guthrie and Little know these plays backwards and forwards. They can ad lib with a familiarity beyond most actors, and they know their audience is right there with them. That makes this version of Compleat Works all the more raucous and engaging.

The script invites the injection of contemporary references and humor, and CSF does so by conjuring up Yoda in the new Star Wars film and a slo-mo fight sequence á la The Matrix (complete with shades and trench coats). As might be expected in a show that packs in so much, a few segments fall flat: the Titus Andronicus parody (done as a cooking show with some pretty gross ingredients) didn't work well, nor did the performance art rendition of Troilus and Cressida. But those are blips in an evening otherwise full of laughter. If you want an entertaining summer performance, look no further than CSF.

E-mail Rick Pender

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