March 4-10, 2004

theater

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

by Toby Zinman

A hit! A palpable hit!

Philly Shakes, almost dead for lack of a ducat and canceling their planned production of As You Like It, is staging a comeback: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is a hilarious show, and likely to be the company’s cash cow. I’ve seen two productions of it before this one, but it worked again, and I left the theater mopping my eyes, having laughed for nearly two hours. Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, the current production is directed by Domenick Scudera. The costumes are funny, with kneepads coordinated with doublets (designed by Brian Strachan), and the props funnier, especially the duel with Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil (Heavy Duty, natch).

John Zak, Brian McCann and Chris Wilgos have a mighty good time (as well as provide one) playing all the roles in all 38 of the plays. Well, almost.

The first act starts with Romeo and Juliet (lots of wigs, lots of contemporary allusions, concluding with a Super Bowl scandal send-up), and moves right along to Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's most gruesome play, as a cooking show ("Roman Meals") with the two handless characters (I'm talking bloody stumps here) trying to high-five each other. The problem of colorblind casting in Othello is solved by the white guys rapping the play, and then the 16 comedies are condensed into one (oddly enough the comedies are not nearly as funny as the tragedies).

Macbeth in kilts and Scottish accents (and McCann's is dazzlingly juicy) is a hoot, and Julius Caesar yields to Antony and Cleopatra, "one of Shakespeare's geopolitical plays." Onward to "Chernobyl Kinsmen" and then Troilus and Cressida as a performance-art piece complete with a wind-up dinosaur and interpretive dance.

The burning question on every student's mind -- Why can't Shakespeare be more like sports? -- is answered by the history plays. A crown becomes a football (hike!) caught by one Henry after Richard after Henry after another. Then an actor escapes, refusing to take on the challenge of Hamlet ("You don't have to do it justice, you just have to do it"), and another actor chases him out of the theater, and everybody gets an intermission.

Act Two is devoted to Hamlet -- first as a condensed parody (with Zak having a moving moment with a quite creditable soliloquy) and then twice more (one faster, one silent) and then, the piece de resistance, they do it backward, ending with the opening question, "There who's?" And that, folks, is the question.

Go see it.

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED)

Through April 4, Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, 2111 Sansom St., 215-496-8001.

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