I’ve seen The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) so many times that its hilarity has worn very thin. First produced in 1987, the show features three guys joking their way through goofy re-creations of (and tangential references to) Shakespeare’s 37 plays in less than two hours. If you’ve seen it repeatedly, the supposed spontaneity loses its charm.
Earlier this year, I learned that Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, the original members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company who created the show, had updated their script with “an opening with even more ridiculous scholarly pomposity than the previous edition” and “references to pop culture and the use of modern technology such as smart phones and the Wikipedia page for Shakespeare.”
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), presented by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, continues through June 26. Go here to read Rick Pender’s full review.
This article appears in Jun 8-14, 2011.
