Review: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) by Chaotic Theatre Company
by Brian Paul Scipione

Though This Be Madness . . . 

When accused of madness by Rosencrantz, Hamlet replies, “I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.”

The players of Chaotic Theater Company’s The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) are similarly feigning madness half the time.  The rest of the time they really are mad.

They race around the stage and into the audience, they duel, prance, grapple, cook, chortle, and grouse.  They employ every possible theatrical device to cover the gamut of emotions and magical moments in the canon, but most of all they make fun of everything in sight: the audience, each other, the classic characters, and the author himself.

The fact is, there is plenty of comedic wealth in all of the plays by the man from Stratford.  As they point out midway through the first act, the funniest plays are indeed the tragedies.  Taken out of context, the fact that Othello is led to murder his own wife in cold blood because of a lost handkerchief is the ultimate in folly.  Romeo and Juliet are mere hot-blooded and hot-headed teens, and Hamlet says it himself: he is fortune’s fool. The history plays are given a similar dressing down.  Who can remember all the names of those kings and queens and more importantly, who cares?  The goal here is to see some heads get chopped off.  The Chaotic Theater’s players acknowledge the play’s apparent impertinence but play it off with no disrespect: they merely sustain the school boy illusion that Shakespeare is boring, outmoded, and impossible to understand without a lot of egregious vomiting. 

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) was written and performed by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield, the founding members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1987. The concept was created in 1981 as a twenty-minute busking act they performed at Renaissance Faires outside Los Angeles and San Francisco.  The limited-time entertainment slots they were given resulted in two things: abbreviated storylines and a rapid-fire physical performance style intended to keep the viewers from walking away.

The concept took off.  By the late 80’s the had created the full version of the show and were touring internationally.  In the 90’s, they found a home at Criterion Theater in London and stayed for nine seasons (I was lucky enough to see this production in 1996).  The concept of abridgement for improv and for the sake of humor has become the group’s virtual monopoly. Other works include: The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged), The Complete History of America (abridged), All the Great Books (abridged), and Completely Hollywood (abridged). In 1997 the company boasted, “The RSC has three shows running in the West End at the same time – only one fewer than Andrew Lloyd Webber.”

This production by Chaotic at the Off Center would make the originators proud.  They have embraced all the main tenets of the play while giving it the proper updates here and there.  The play is what it was meant to be: fun, lighthearted, and somewhat educational.  There are inside jokes for those who are intimate with the works in their original forms and there are sight gags for those who are not.

James Leach’s direction and vision are so fully formed that the audience never thinks of anything but what is happening before it. The illusion that tonight’s production is the first ever performed is complete.  The audience is too busy laughing to worry about the heavier themes with which the original plays deal.  The night I attended, the show had a perfect Austin audience, one more than ready to play along when asked.

As always, the Chaotic company pays meticulous attention to the lighting, props and costuming.  Lighting design deserves special mention as the most ambitious and exacting I have seen this year.  Black, Kanne and Stone-Robb are simultaneously enthusiastic and enthralling.  They know their parts and speak the speech trippingly on their tongues, not mouthing it as some do: nor will they be seen sawing the air with their hands.  Rather, they use all gently in the whirlwind of their passions, thus acquiring a temperance that gives it smoothness.  Though it be madness there is method in it . . . .

Review by Jillian Owens for the Austin Chronicle, September 15

Hits as of 2015 03 01: 1671

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
Chaotic Theatre Company