The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

This production claims to perform all of Shakespeare's 37 plays (well, technically) in an evening by only three actors.  Bouncing into the spotlight, David Todman, Shane Henry and Trelawny Kean (playing themselves in superb ensemble) threw themselves into the challenge like a trio of superbly-talented kids in a playground.  

Using every square inch of a thrown-together platform and child’s slide, dress-up boxes, and some simple bench props, they began with a vaguely traditional Romeo and Juliet, segued into scenes from Titus Andronicus as a grisly cooking show, and rapped their way through Othello.  

The comedies became one bizarrely convoluted mega-play (“seeing as they all have the same plot anyway”), and the histories morphed into an AFL game, with the crown as the football; while Macbeth was done in gloriously appalling Scottish accents.  Finally they dismissed Coriolanus as too rude a title, and finished with Hamlet, with Trelawny Kean as a moustachioed, sighing (almost hipsterish) Prince of Denmark; with some utterly wonderful comedic characterization of Polonius by Shane Henry.

To parody something as iconic as Shakespeare, you need to be steeped in the tradition and skills demanded by the source material.  A nod to one original Shakespearean tradition was the gangly Todman playing all the female roles (Kean in most of the lead male roles was just a bonus).  

All three actors could recite Shakespeare beautifully, no matter whether they were jumping around the stage, hurtling headfirst down the slide, fighting with foam swords or overacting so badly it was quite hilarious.  One side effect was that Shakespeare’s dialogue sparkled, vividly and affectionately brought to life by the headlong approach of this production.   So that when, in the midst of chaos, David Todman suddenly segued into the famous “What a piece of work is man” speech, it was a superb, quietly powerful moment.

The actors dismissed the fourth wall early on, inviting (nay, demanding) audience participation and talking back to their lighting technician, and the full house gave them several well-deserved curtain calls.  It’s not every day you see Hamlet played backwards in 47 seconds, after all.

Alex Armstrong

Photographer: Shing Lang from Shing Photography.