The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) began its life as a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, famous for being even more frantic and eclectic than New York. The madcap three-man arrangement through which every Shakespeare play, two of them ("Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet") given special treatment, clearly piqued the interest of festival-goers then, and why not? Have we not all sat through half of "King John" in efforts to fill out our Shakespeare dance card, as it were, without having the faintest idea what was going on? It was much more fun this time around as seen as a pass at a football game.
The original members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company are now a theme-park designer, a published author and a director, but their work lives on, and the fast-paced production by No Jacket Required at Under St. Mark’s retains (one imagines) a lot of the mania of those early performances, before the abridged version was a movie or a West End hit. The cast’s mutual ease makes the production, even when demarcating the line between stage and seats, feel like an impromptu dorm-room triumph in a good way. Ethan Downing handles most of the female roles behind a series of fright wigs, Timothy Dudek brings the scorn and Darren St. George is the glue holding them together through productions like rap "Othello" and a Food Network "Titus Andronicus."
When two cast members run out at intermission, leaving Dudek (seemingly) stranded onstage, he looks honestly stricken; of course, they return in order to put on the "Hamlet" which caps the show, including mandatory audience participation and a spotlight-seeking Ophelia. The more you know about Shakespeare, the better time you’ll have at this loose and fast-paced performance.
The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged) runs through Aug. 30 at Under St. Mark’s, 94 St. Mark’s Place. For schedule, ticket prices and more information visit ShakespeareAbridged.net.
