| The Complete
Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) |
Question: What’s more funny than a Shakespeare tragedy? Answer: 11 tragedies, 7 histories, 16 comedies and the odd sonnet, all combined into an Elizabethan Theatrical smorgasbord of pleasure. Beginning with a balletic, whistle-stop Romeo and Juliet, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, dressed in nothing but doublet, hose and baseball shoes, present a non-stop feast of transvestite, pat-a-caking Juliets and poisoned toy daggers. Amidst serving a feast of culinary Titus Andronicus and a hip-hop Othello, Peter Brooke, Tim Dale and Adam D Millard performed 16 comedies in one speedy mini-play, a fully tartaned Macbeth and a quick finish of Julius Caesar. The Reduced Shakespeare Company have been performing this condensation of the Bard in London for years and their arrival in Oxford as part of their UK tour was appreciated by a small but vibrant audience who responded to the wit and ability of the cast. The Complete Works employed as many different devices as possible to not just entertain but also inform the Headington Theatre crowd of the full breadth of Shakespeare’s literary output. An American Football version of the Histories, an interpretative dance Troilus and Cressida and the odd ukulele thrown in for musical effect enlivened the first half’s run through of 99% of the Bard’ s repertoire. The second half was given over to audience participation: deep psychological analysis of Ophelia’s distress in Hamlet (which itself was simply a prelude to the riotous tongue-on-tongue puppet action to follow), topped only by Ophelia drowning in a glass of water. The exuberance of the actors, equalled only by the delight of those watching, was not constrained by the 97 minutes allotted to the entirety of Shakespeare’s anthology and the final treat was an encore of Hamlet in under 15 seconds – backwards. You would be wise to ring up the Headington Theatre Box Office at once to book, beg or prostitute yourself for a ticket for Friday night’s final performance, as this 5 star comedic triumph has been sold out for weeks - and rightly so. The verdict? ‘A hit, a hit, a very palpable hit’. Peter Ould, October 2004 |