Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield Directed by Joel Greenberg Starring Kirk Dunn, Joel Harris and Stephen Guy-McGrath At Young People's Theatre, Toronto Rating: **
T he Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is a sophomoric spoof, so perhaps it is better suited to the stage of Young People's Theatre than it was to the Bathurst Street Theatre, where it made its unimpressive Toronto premiere back in 1997. Maybe the 12-and-up crowd will be suitably amused by a posturing Hamlet with an oversized skull or a randy Juliet with obvious falsies. Let's hope so, because this enduring off-Broadway show, which YPT is mounting in its crucial March-break slot, offers little to make an intelligent adult laugh.
The creation of three American actors (Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield) who parlayed this minor gag fest into a touring hit, The Complete Works is supposedly an attempt to summarize all Shakespeare. In fact, it's an overly extended and utterly predictable spoof of Romeo and Juliet, followed by much the same of Hamlet. Flailing sword play, mangled speeches, funny accents and silly wigs feature prominently. The only imaginative stuff is sandwiched between these two pieces: The histories are wrapped up into a football game; all the comedies are summarized by a single play featuring a labyrinthine plot that includes a lot of cross-dressing and long-lost identical twins. Here, mocking the formulaic structure of the comedies, The Complete Works achieves its only moment worthy of the name satire, before returning to the clowning.
It is performed in Toronto by Kirk Dunn, Stephen Guy-McGrath and Joel Harris, three young men who bring enthusiasm and physicality to their roles. However, they cannot bring any spontaneity to the heavily scripted conceit that they are actors discussing how they are going to execute this summary as they go along. Joel Greenberg, who directed the show at Bathurst Street four years ago, returns with a very similar effort.
The teenagers may laugh at the flatulent anachronisms -- Othello as a rap song as well as references to proms, Britney Spears, Ricola mints and Survivor -- but it will take some grownup knowledge of Shakespeare to understand why it is funny to present the gruesome Titus Andronicus as a cooking show or to expel King Lear from the history football game because he's a fictional character. Pity that this cast rushes through those jokes, without finding any way to exalt the odd bit of intelligent humour in the midst of this low romp. To March 18; 416-947-1027.
Kate Taylor