It's pretty well-known that Shakespeare, genius though he was, played fast and loose with historical facts and borrowed plotlines from a variety of other sources.
Well, "The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)" goes several steps further in playing really, really fast and rather loose - packing all 38 of Shakespeare's plays, including the practically unknown "The Two Noble Kinsmen" . . . plus sonnets . . . into less than two hours.Shakespeare purists will probably brand this "Abridged Too Far," but it certainly makes for a lively, uproariously funny evening.
The small and very talented cast - Rene Thornton Jr., Mark Larson and Dylan M. McCullough, augmented by rollerblading prop girl Sarah E. Budge - maintains a frenzied pace and wildly frenetic momentum as they race (careen?) through the more than three dozen comedies, histories, tragedies and romances.
Co-directed by Dax Kiger and Craig Rich, this production more than holds its own against other professional theater in town.
Obviously "abridged" is the key word here. Some plays (notably "Romeo and Juliet," "Titus Andronicus" and "Hamlet") get more attention than others.
The comedies - considered the sit-coms of their day - are packed into one brief "The Love Boat Goes to Venice" segment and the histories (the ones where all those kings are always killing each other off in deadly power plays) are depicted as a football game, with a very resilient crown being tossed back and forth like a sought-after pigskin. (But poor King Lear is shamefully disqualified and kicked off the field - because he was a mythical character.)
You'll never look at Martha Stewart or the Galloping Gourmet again the same way after seeing "Titus Andronicus" being staged as a cooking show. (And a big hand - plastic, of course - to the baker who created the clever brownies for the Babcock concession stand.) "Titus" has always been one of those "food for thought" dramas.
"Othello" is staged as a flashy rap number, with rhyming lyrics and disco lighting. (Only Thornton could get away with pairing Othella with Brotha.)
In a brisk nod to "The Life and Death of Julius Caesar," the doomed Roman asks "What the hell are the Ides of March?"
Most of the budget for Eugene Tachinni's costumes must have been earmarked for Velcro. There are dozens of quick costume changes. Thornton, especially, is constantly switching not only costumes but genders, wearing a selection of alluring wigs to portray Juliet, Lavinia, Queen Gertrude and other female characters.
Saving one of Shakespeare's most popular tragedies until last, "Hamlet" takes up the entire second half of the show. It's done not only once, but four times.
The first run-through is the basic "abridged" edition - brief but enough of the gist that you know what's going on. After receiving a loud round of applause, the three actors huddle for a few seconds and announce they'll do it one more time - but faster.
Whacking even more of the bits and pieces from the script, it's the Danish Prince in Reeboks.
Then, in a burst of even more energy, the excited trio races through it at warp speed and - just to prove that they know the script backward and forward, they do it in reverse.
(Somehow, Hamlet's famous speech loses its punch when it comes out "Be to not or be to.")
But one place not "to be" is seated toward the front or in an easily accessible aisle seat. There's a lot of audience participation when the actors (who pull a young girl out of the audience to portray Ophelia), get the entire crowd involved in bolstering various components of her ego.
As the action escalates, Mark Larson (Hamlet) can be forgiven for announcing, "It is I, the omelet that's Danish!" (It's probably in the script.)
A big hand (but not Lavinia's), to lighting designer Eric C. Craft and technical director Paul Szlyk.
The scenery was relatively simple - three white flats with a hint of Tudor moldings.
Dylan McCullough choreographed the fight scenes. Errol Flynn and Laurence Olivier would be proud.
"All the world's a stage," quotes Mark Larson at the beginning of the evening (Jaques' famous speech from "As You Like It.") "And all the men and women have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts . . . "
The actors in "Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)" play more Shakespearean parts in two hours than they're likely to perform in the rest of their careers.
- Sensitivity rating: Some vulgarity and Shakespearean bawdiness and played-for-fun violence.