Review: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)

Review by Ray Tempesta

First off, I'll start with a disclaimer. I'm a big fan of the Reduced Shakespeare Company and all its output, and this particular piece, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is one I can confidently credit with instilling a love of live theatre, having been bowled over by it in my formative years.

So, given the above, unless the actors stepping into the shoes of 'RSC' founders Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield were lacking in any kind of talent or charisma, I was always going to love this production.

From the moment Woogie Jung took to the stage to introduce the show though, it was clear that we'd been placed in suitably whimsical hands, as alongside Efé Agwele and Tom Pavey, they showered us with gags, daft wordplay, and a whole heap of clowning around.

Efé, Tom, and Woogie in a classic Shakespearean scene

Though it purports to work its way through all of Shakespeare's plays, which sounds like a mammoth undertaking, the reality is that most of them are shrinked down to summaries or death scenes. And in fact, the format of the production is pretty simple - Hamlet, and everything else.

The first half of this fairly concise show ('brevity is the soul of wit' and all that, right?) concerns itself with condensing all of the comedies into one short piece, reducing the history plays to a game of football, and there's also a hilarious 'traditional' version of Macbeth plus more wigs, daft props, and vomiting than you can shake a stick at.

The second half sees a closer examination of Hamlet, where highly emotive speeches are delivered nonchalantly, the audience is involved, and the play is eventually reduced to mere seconds, plus an impressively choreographed backwards version.

There was one concerning moment in the second half where Efé Agwele appeared to slip over and hurt herself, and for a few minutes the show was called to a halt. Such was their slick handling of the situation, it was difficult to believe it wasn't rehearsed. Thankfully, the stage manager appeared to tell us that Agwele was okay to continue, so all's well that ends well.

Sorry Shakespeare aficionados, it's not scholarly, but it is clever, very funny and in the hands of this talented, energetic company, it's a brilliant evening's entertainment. The Complete Works... continues at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds until 13 June.