6/46-365 OOB

Tonight, my friend HB took me to dinner and then to see “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged.” She’d asked me what I wanted, and this is exactly what I told her. Told her she would laugh until her sides hurt. I saw this play a few years ago at Limelight Theatre in St. Augustine, and told LCB that she had to come down with me when I went to see it a second time. These 3 actors are doing the show at a number of theatres – last night and tonight at Atlantic Beach, then 2 nights in Amelia Island. They just now booked it at Players by the Sea (Jax Beach) for Sunday night. I’m seriously considering seeing it again.

Ok. “Shakespeare” you’re thinking? That sure doesn’t sound like me, does it?! Well, when you have three male actors take all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays and do them in 90 minutes, playing ALL the roles, with minimal costume changes and props … it’s funny. The play was London’s longest running comedy, playing for 10 years.

Tonight’s production was almost as minimal as you can get for staging. A chair, a wooden box for a table, 2 glasses and a bottle of water. Actually, I don’t think the glasses were used as props. The actors used some props: wigs, clothing, foam swords, a baby doll, etc. It was 99% the actors, and 1% props.

Amazon’s review says it much better than I can. This is what they say about the DVD (that yes, I’m getting from Block Buster): “Three men performing 37 plays in less than two hours may seem a bit of a stretch. But Adam Long, Reed Martin, and Austin Tichenor--all members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company--pull it off beautifully with The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), a slapstick show that summarizes the playwright's stage work (with the sonnets thrown in). Never read Titus Andronicus? No problem; it's presented here as a cooking show. Can't keep your Shakespearean histories straight? Visualize them as a football game. Wondering what exactly is the deal with that guy Othello? Hear his story as a rap song. Hard as it is to imagine, this video of the stage show (originally seen on PBS) is one of the funniest, most clever productions around. Long is hysterical in his roles of Juliet and Ophelia (among others), bringing a hip, edgy feel to the plays while remaining surprisingly true to the stories. Martin and Tichenor will amaze with their acrobatic movements and frequent costume changes, and the three together are a marvel of timing and rhythm. Best of all, whether you know Shakespeare inside out or have yet to read a word of him, The Complete Works will have you in stitches.”

Act One is 36 or the 37 plays. Act Two is just Hamlet. First they do it in their normal fashion, including complete audience participation. Then, they realize they still have time, so instead of letting us go home early, they do it again – faster. After that, well guess what? There’s still time, so they do it again, even faster yet. With still a little time left for us, they decide to do Hamlet backwards, at the middle fast speed. Not only funny, but amazing. To know how hard it was to memorize Sondheim’s lyrics, I cannot imagine how difficult it was to memorize some of Shakespeare’s lines – backwards. “Be to not or be to.” Right?

If you’re here in Jax and have Sunday night free – GO SEE THIS SHOW at Players by the Sea. If you’re not in Jax, keep an eye out for someone doing it near you, and go!

Oh, and the title of today’s blog … You’re wondering WTH; she’s off her rocker again. Well, there’s a ghost in Hamlet, right? Then what does a ghost say … backwards?


TTFN!