{"id":5873,"date":"2016-07-12T06:22:22","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T10:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=5873"},"modified":"2016-07-19T07:32:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-19T11:32:00","slug":"the-complete-works-of-william-shakespeare-abridgedrevised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=5873","title":{"rendered":"The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)(revised)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ShakespeareYou may recall with delight the Reduced Shakespeare Company\u2019s The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), <\/em>whose madcap condensation of Shakespeare\u2019s plays began making the rounds in 1981 and became one of the theater world\u2019s most-produced plays. Some of the funniest material from the play\u2019s many international productions has made its way into this new version\u2014\u201cupdated for the 21st century\u201d\u2014by the three founding members of RSC: Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fast-moving farce, well suited for The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey\u2019s<\/a> (STNJ) annual outdoor stage production. This new production has new surprises, including a rap version of Othello<\/em><\/a> (thank you, Lin-Manuel Miranda). As directed by Jeffrey M. Bender, it\u2019s as antic and energetic as its predecessor. It would have to be, since (abridged)(revised)<\/em> presents all 37 plays and the sonnets, after a fashion, in 97 minutes. There\u2019s one intermission an hour in\u2014Red Bull break for the cast, methinks.<\/p>\n

The cast includes STNJ regular Jon Barker (a master of body language), Connor Carew, and Patrick Toon, each changing personae at the blink of an eye or slapping on of a wig. Carew\u2019s Ophelia is hilarious, and Toon is a lustily belligerent Romeo. From time to time, there are bits of audience participation, perfect for the relaxed atmosphere of the outdoor stage.<\/p>\n

The clever set comprises giant volumes of the Bard\u2019s works. The books\u2019 spines conceal doors, prop drawers, and the like. While the set and the setting are great, and the cast does an amazing job, the script itself fits my mother-in-law\u2019s ambiguous phrase, \u201cit is what it is.\u201d A couple of the most familiar plays\u2014Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet<\/em>\u2014receive more attention than the others, and the roller-coaster ride through the comedies is great fun.<\/p>\n

We overheard that some of the reworking of material was intended to make this play\u2014and perhaps Shakespeare\u2019s works themselves\u2014\u201cmore attractive to a younger audience.\u201d In line with that goal, tickets are free for kids 18 and younger at the Outdoor Stage, thanks to grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Bank of America.<\/p>\n

Presumably, the younger audience in question means 14-year-old boys, given the emphasis on bawdy humor of the type that makes them giggle knowingly. The script has enough gags\u2014verbal and sight\u2014that there\u2019s no need to tarry in some of the more obvious places (\u201cthe last four letters\u201d of Coriolanus, for example). While what people will find funny is heavily a matter of individual taste, Sunday\u2019s audience at STNJ found enough of what they liked to give the performers steady laughter and an enthusiastic reception.<\/p>\n

Through July 31 at the beautiful outdoor Greek Theatre on the campus of the College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, New Jersey. Arrive early, take a picnic.<\/p>\n

For tickets, call the STNJ box office at 973-408-5600 or visit the box office online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may recall with delight the Reduced Shakespeare Company\u2019s The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), whose madcap condensation of Shakespeare\u2019s plays began making the rounds in 1981 and became one of the theater world\u2019s most-produced plays. Some of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)(revised)--a madcap romp thru the Canon","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[272,104,147],"tags":[555,554,197,553],"class_list":["post-5873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedy","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-jeffrey-m-bender","tag-jon-barker","tag-shakespeare","tag-shakespeare-theatre-of-new-jersey"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-1wJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5875,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5873\/revisions\/5875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}