The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
‘When I was in school and we were supposed to be studying Shakespeare, I’d be looking out the window at the kids playing ball, and thinking, ’Why can’t this Shakespeare stuff be more like sports?’’- The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
There’s no doubt about it. Brisbane Arts Theatre does parody well. If you’ve been lucky enough to see ‘Jurassic Park, The Musical’ or ’50 Shades, The Parody Musical’ this year – or you’re planning on seeing ‘The Real Housewives of Brisbane, Parody’ in 2018 you can certainly expect to laugh, be amazed, occasionally participate and feel marginally better-educated during this extraordinary piece of virtuosic theatre.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) was written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield in 1987 and achieves the monumental feat of presenting all the plays and poems of the Bard in a single performance. Obviously, this requires substantial imagination, technical capability, humour and improvisation as well as over a hundred costume and character changes.
All the favourites are present – along with the favourite quotes; ‘To be or not to be’, ‘Alas poor Yorick’ and ‘Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou…’ – not necessarily in context or in order, and depending on the cast’s mood on the night, perhaps incorporated with some improvised 21st-century-related activity. The audience will also be treated to samples of Shakespeare’s lesser-known works, and his entire collection of poetry will be reduced to a script the size of an index card (which will greatly please those who would have preferred to be kicking a ball than learning Hamlet)