When SparkNotes just isn't funny enough, try The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), playing at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival. The show appeals to a wide audience; this is evidenced by both the sold-out performances and audiences filled with youth eager to hear Shakespearean penis jokes. Meanwhile, the old are anxious to learn if they'll get the pop culture reference. The show runs through all 38 of Will's plays in 97 minutes. The first half of the show consists of 37 of his plays while the second half is saved entirely for their rendition of Hamlet, sock puppet apparition and all.
The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival sets their plays in a black box which provides a more intimate environment. The Complete Works, which claims as its influences Monty Python, Bugs Bunny and Shakespeare himself, operates unencumbered by a fourth wall and works in conjunction with the audience to cover all of the Bard's plays. At one point, an Ophelia picked from the audience endures the entire cast's screaming commands to "get thee to a nunnery," and that her "biological clock is ticking," all while a kid runs back and forth in front of the stage with his arms flailing. All of this serves as the subtext which should ultimately motivate an onstage audience member to understand Ophelia's inner monologue and then embody it in an unholy scream; unfortunately, the Ophelia from our show was a little more timid.
Anyone with a passing familiarity with Shakespeare will enjoy the play. In an attempt to be more accessible to modern audiences, a cooking show is used as the setting for Titus "Androgynous", and Othello the Moor uses a rap that begins, "Here's the story of a brother by the name of Othello / He liked white women and he liked green Jell-O." But this production offers more than just the scripted jokes. It includes enough modern references to make Jon Stewart happy. In The Merchant of Venice, you'll find Bush bashing and references to the Dubai ports controversy. And every time a female character kicks the bucket, she vomits everywhere to such an overwhelming extent that in between purges the dying Juliet proclaimed that she felt, "like Lindsay Lohan after a big meal." At the end of one performance, Janet Jackson blared and a costume "malfunctioned."
The show's humor caters to an informed crowd, and in order to get all of the witty references and puns, one must be sharper than a rapier. The Complete Works is most akin to sketch comedy and, as such, appeals to a diverse audience, just like Will intended.
