“THE COMPLETE WORKS OF
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED) embodies one of comedy's most
essential impulses: the adolescent urge to take a baseball bat to
the culturally revered. A mix of pratfalls, puns, willful misreadings of names and dialogue, clunky female impersonations,
clean-cut ribaldry, and broad burlesque. The gung-ho vitality is
impossible to resist. The conversion of the histories into a
football game is very funny. So is a rap version of OTHELLO.
HAMLET truly soars and allows the actors to come into their own
as manic clowns. At its giddiest, its tone recalls the fabled
Bullwinkle cartoon shows.”
Ben Brantley, The New York
Times
“This irreverent
deconstruction of Shakepeare's work makes a dilly of poor Willy.
A fantasia of zany energy that throws together Monty Python-ish
drag and Mel Brook-ish anything-for-a-laugh gags.”
Michael Musto, New York
Daily News
“Fresh,
energetic and funny. A wild and silly frolic.”
Pia Lindstrom, W N B C-T V
originally produced by The Reduced Shakespeare Company
3 M, although female actors can be used
Applause Books, I S B N: 1-55783-271-4, $8.95