William Shakespeare wrote 37(ish) plays, an astounding feat for any playwright, but especially when you consider that they're still being performed 400 years later. I'm not even the biggest Shakespeare fan, I don't seek out Shakespeare, but being after being a Twin Cities Theater Blogger for 14 years and a Guthrie season subscriber for 20, I've seen about two-thirds of his plays, and some of them multiple times (over a dozen
Romeo and Juliets alone!). That's a lot of hours of Shakespeare. But if you don't have time to see 37 plays (who does?), now you can see them all in under two hours! In Jackdonkey Productions' version of
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), three talented actors take you through them all, well sort of. Each play at least gets a mention or a line, with a couple of them getting a bit longer treatment. The script (by
Reduced Shakespeare Company) is really just a framework upon which the cast and creative team build a silly, fun, fourth-wall-breaking romp of a show. And you don't need to have seen any of Shakespeare's 37 plays to enjoy it (although if you have, you'll get a few more of the references).
See it now through July 21 at Phoenix Theater in Uptown (still open despite the construction on Hennepin). Or you can catch it in
Lanesboro or
Stillwater the following week.
They claim to do 37 plays in 97 minutes, but really, it's less time than that. They spend the first 20 minutes of the show goofing around (in the best way) with introductions, audience interaction (some real, some faux), and other shenanigans. "They" being the talented trio of Amanda Espinoza (the one trying to keep things on track), Noah Hynick (the smart one), and Adam Iverson (the naive one), who work and play together very well. They use their own names as they chastise or encourage each other through the endeavor, playing actors who are performing this piece. They breeze through the canon pretty quickly by performing a mash-up of all the comedies (ship wreck - twins - wedding), with all the histories represented by the passing of a crown in a football game. They go a bit more in depth on a couple of plays, including a hilarious Macbeth in wonderfully horribly exaggerated Scottish accents. But they spend the most time on the most famous play, taking up the entire second act.
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Amanda Espinoza, Adam Iverson, and Noah Hynick
(photo courtesy of Jackdonkey) |
Director Zach Christensen and the cast bring a lot of personalization to the show, from the construction outside the studio to weird concessions sold in the lobby. They comment on the plays and the task before them, deciding what to do (and not do) and how to do it. It all feels very playful and immediate, almost off the cuff, but it also feels practiced, like well choreographed chaos. Dressed in puffy shirts and black pants, they make great use of the space at the Phoenix (including a door I never knew was there). The stage is bare except for a few choice props, used for comedic effect. It's all very clever and creative.
This show has been around for some 30 years, but I've never seen it. I quite enjoyed it. It's playful and silly, and maybe even a little scholarly. Who says Shakespeare can't be fun?!
