[NEohioPAL] Berko review: THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED) @ Great Lakes Theatre Festival

[Roy Berko]

SHAKESPEARE ABRIDGED not all that riotous at GLTF 

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News Times--Olmsted-Fairview 
Times

--COOLCLEVELAND.COM-

The advertisement for Great Lakes Theater Festival's THE COMPLETE WORKS OF 
WILIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED) reads,”3 GUYS.  37 PLAYS.  1 RIOTOUS ROMP.”  Yes, 
there are 3 guys, and 37 plays, well, actually 36 plus HAMLET done 4 times.  
But, this is not a riotous romp.  It is more an uneven production with some very 
humorous segments, which is often difficult to hear, and gets boring due to the 
repetition of duplicate shticks and allusions.

The play, whose alternate title is COMPLEAT WRKS OF WLLM SHKSPR (ABRIDGED), was 
written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield, the founding members of 
the Reduced Shakespeare Company.  It was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe 
Festival in 1987 and has become one of the most produced scripts.

As the writers explain the birth of the production, “We decided to do the 
complete works of Shakespeare in less than two hours.  Bill was a pretty good 
playwright, but he used too many words.”

Though it is a scripted show, much of what happens is ad-libbed by the actors 
according to the audience reactions.  While some audience members are actually 
brought on stage, and others are addressed by the cast, the whole audience 
becomes cheering sections.  (Warning:  if you don't want to become an actual 
part of the action, avoid sitting in the first few rows, and definitely not in 
the seats added where the thrust stage usually is place, which is referred to by 
the cast as the “vomitorium.”) 

In sum, the production is a parody of the plays written by William Shakespeare.  
All of the Bard's comedies, history plays and tragedies are performed, or at 
least alluded in the two-acts.  

As is the case with many of the script's productions, references to local topics 
of the day are included.  The GLTF creation includes visual and verbal comments 
to LeBron (the traitor of Cleveland), the Browns, SPIDERMAN, THE MUSICAL, Parma 
and Tom Hanks (did you know he has a favorite urinal in the men's room and the 
Hanna Theatre bar is named after him?)

GLTF's production is directed by Charles Fee, the king of farce, double-takes 
and broad interpretations.   There are many humorous, downright funny parts of 
the show, but Fee's seeming obsession to anal references and kicks to the groin 
become tedious after a while.   And, no matter how much you like and admire the 
guy, how many Tom Hanks references have to be made?  After the first ten uses of 
his name, his urinal and his bar, the impact gets lost.)

The cast, Paul Hurley, Jason O'Connell and M. A. Taylor, who are basically 
classically trained actors, don't' seem to have the comic timing to pull off all 
the broad and physical humor.  O'Connell does a fun stand-up comedy bit  at the 
start of Act II.  Hurley has some fun moments, especially as Hamlet.  M. A. 
Taylor, garbed out in Indians' paraphernalia,  is fun at the start of the show, 
but in other places  he doesn't project well.  This is especially true when he 
goes into falsetto when portraying the many women's roles.  If we can't hear the 
lines, we can't laugh at them!

The most entertaining parts of the production centered on the free form 
segments. 

Do you have to know all of the Shakespeare portfolio to appreciate the goings 
on, to even understand the show?  No, but some knowledge helps.  

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: I've seen CWOWS(A) done before, and done well.  
Unfortunately, though humorous as times, the GLTF production is long on shticks 
and short on riotousness.

Side note:  An excellent 'TEACHER PREPARATION GUIDE' has been prepared by Daniel 
Hahn and Kelly Schaffer Florian to be used by instructors who are bringing their 
students to see the play.  They can be obtained by contacting Kelly at 
kflorian at greatlakestheater.org or by calling 216-241-5490.

For tickets to THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED), which runs 
through March 27, call 216-241-6000 or visit www.greatlakestheater.org.
 
Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 
2010, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at 
http://royberko.info

His reviews can also be found on www.coolcleveland.com and NeOHIOpal (to 
subscribe visit http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal.)
 
Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 
2011, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at 
http://royberko.info.  His reviews can also be found on www.coolcleveland.com 
and www.NeOHIOpal