The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is the creation of The Reduced Shakespeare Company aka RSC, founded in 1981 by Daniel Singer, and two of the founding members, Adam Long and Jess Winfield.
When the RSC took their first production, a 25-minute version of Hamlet, to the Edinburgh Festival in 1987, the company expanded the play to 60 minutes with the inclusion of other Shakespearean plays. The Complete Works was a success and the RSC developed it into a 97-minute production that ran for nine years in London’s West End. According to the present director, Tom Massey, who fell in love with the play after seeing it at the Seymour Centre in the 1990s, the “show is a joyful celebration of the magic of Shakespeare vigorously mixed with a splash of fun”.
Fun there is. The energetic, engaging and indefatigable cast, Jessica Gray, Jamie Colette and Barry Nielson, enjoy the romp through Shakespeare’s 37 plays. Tragedy, comedy (dark or romantic), history (even King John), all have their moment, ranging from minutes to a second. The very funny opening biography of Shakespeare “read” from an iPhone by a wonderfully guileless Nielson sets the tone of the play in which the minutes or moments are chaotic mash-ups of character, plot and recognisable lines. Added to the mixture are a bizarre collection of costumes and props, of which the silliest highlights are the addition of oranges to transform Romeo into the meddling nurse and the appearance of a spectral sock as the ghost of Hamlet’s father.
It is probable that familiarity with Shakespeare deepens enjoyment of The Complete Works. They who have already sniggered quietly at “Do you bite your thumb at me, sir” from R & J will find the RSC’s version extremely funny, and those admirers of the Scottish play will find it transformed into a ridiculous duel with golf clubs by an absurdly kilted pair with fruity accents. Perhaps the surprise of the performance is finding genuine but guilty hilarity in the appalling reinvention of the macabre Titus Andronicus as a cooking show. However, it is no surprise to find the audience laughing uncontrollably at the concluding presentation of Hamlet, at first abridged, then speeded up and finally performed backwards at a zippy pace.
There was a moment of magic. The laughing ceased and a hush fell as Nielson, withdrawing to the side of the stage, changes the mood completely with a simple but moving delivery of Hamlet’s speech to the faithless Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The point is made that while Shakespeare can be made fun of, he is still “awesome”, to quote Tom Massey.
Overall, a lively and appealing trio of actors and a large and dedicated production team have brought this oft-performed Shakespearean spoof to vigorous life. More vigorous life, perhaps, if the element of audience participation following intermission was to be abandoned in favour of maintaining the high level of energy generated by skillful actors and a good crew.
