(ABRIDGED)
by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, Jess Winfield
Directed by Tom McCabe
JULY 29, 30, 31 & AUGUST 5, 6, 7, 2010
BOX OFFICE
413-585-3220
Reviewed by Donna Bailey-Thompson
Timing is everything. It also helps to be certifiably border line nuts backed up by years of stage experience. While the cast of three knock themselves out, the requirements for the audience are no more than a rudimentary knowledge of Shakespeare’s writings (what wafts in the atmosphere suffices); and if funny bones have been in storage, here’s the ideal opportunity for their vitality to be restored.
This landlocked version of Free Willy is a totally entertaining package held together by the vortex created by spinning almost out of control. Three nitwit buddies from years back (Adam Long, Daniel Singer, Jess Winfield) wrote this tongue-in-cheek paean to the Bard’s thirty-six plays which their actor counterparts (Sam Rush, Phil Kilbourne, Brian Joseph Smith) have revived in honor of New Century Theatre’s 20th season.
The set design (Amy B. Davis) suggests the entrance to The Globe Theatre – timbers on stucco, Latin maxims, a be-tassled lecturn, a naked but appropriately hairy headless torso, and otherwise a bare stage for the truncated presentations of one plot line after another.
With Kilbourne at the lectern, wearing a blousy coat jacket representative of elegant medieval haute couture (as resurrected by Elizabeth Smolin’s costume designs), the first of the abridged Shakespearean dramas, Romeo and Juliet, leads off (before Macduff does – lead on, that is. However! The actual quote begins, “Lay on, Macduff...”) Smith’s Juliet is about as grotesque a parody ever concocted, the first of an unbroken string of over-the-top female characterizations. Whoever Rush is supposed to be is secondary to his contrived speech impediment that elevates lisping to hall of fame status -- liths-spittle-spewing spray-like mist. (Only one other time did I laugh harder, and that was also Rush’s fault. I don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun so all I’ll reveal here is that it’s a one-word question uttered as his character breathes his last. OMG. Priceless.) As Juliet’s Nurse, Rush dons a floppy chambermaid’s cap and a no-bra bosom that underneath a silky blouse is hysterically undulatingly life-like.
Act Two focuses on Hamlet -- Kilbourne’s turn to scenery chew. There’s sword play – literally – and another opportunity for Smith to go drag as a totally wacked out Ophelia. Controlled mayhem reigns. But as Kilbourne’s Hamlet butchers the famous opening words, “To be or not to be.” of the soliloquy familiar to just about anyone, Smith (no longer Ophelia because she’s drowned), recites one of the lesser celebrated soliloguies totally straight. At about the fifth or sixth line, the audience, geared to giggle, instead is silent and charmed by the beauty of Shakespeare’s language – a no-fuss tribute to genius. Then, with a ho-hum sigh, the rollicking nonsense resumes with a vengeance. The stage is littered with bodies. Is that the end? Nope. The Hamlet parody is repeated at warp speed. Done again backwards. I was so amazed at the trio’s ability to present still another variation that I failed to make more written notes.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is semi-mindless entertainment. The spoofing unwittingly (?) engages the brain. Thinking has never been easier or funnier. Do see what think-funny Director Tom McCabe has wrought before Rush, Kilbourne & Smith inadvertently kill off one another.
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First produced by NCT in 1999, this production remains one of the more talked about comedies in its 20-year history. No two performances are exactly alike in this improvisational roller coaster of Shakespearean proportions. "Romeo and Juliet," "The Scottish Play," and "Hamlet" have never been laugh-out-loud funny before now; even "Titus Andronicus" may find a way to tickle your funny bone. Join original cast members Sam Rush, Phil Kilbourne, and Brian Joseph Smith as they team up with director Tom McCabe on the stage of Theatre 14 to see if they have what it takes to tackle all thirty-six of the Bard's plays in under two hours!
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