The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Revised)

The Bard gone batty.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Revised)

If you don’t like screaming, dancing, ugly wigs, Destiny’s Child, (fake) vomiting, audience participation or poking fun at the world’s most famous playwright, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Revised) is probably not for you. But if you do, Post5 Theatre’s third annual production of the comedy—which tears through all of the Bard’s 37 plays in 90 minutes—is a good bit of fun. Directed by Cassandra Boice, the show stars Chip Sherman, Alex Klein and Ty Boice, who all contribute some of Post5’s signature contemporary spin. “Do you bite your thumb at me, dude?” begins Romeo and Juliet, a swift seven-minute romp that includes cross-dressing, ribbon-dancing and an epilogue performed in barbershop-quartetlike vocals. The histories become rather violent football games, and Othello is a beat-boxed, laser light-illuminated rap show. Some of the jokes are a little off-color, but the cast shines with impressive flexibility and chemistry throughout, as well as an amusing willingness to laugh at themselves. Highlights include Ty Boice’s perfectly timed splash of water to the face to signify a drowning Ophelia, Sherman’s over-the-top, boa-wearing nurse in Romeo and Juliet, and Klein’s pompous air of intelligence as the narrator. “All’s well that finally ends,” one of them says, and with a reverse-order Hamlet, this year’s version of Complete Works definitely ends well. 

SEE IT: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Revised) is at Milepost 5, 850 NE 81st Ave., postfivetheatre.wix.com. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Sundays through June 28. $15.

WWeek 2015

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