STAGE REVIEW
'Shakespeare' hilarious romp into the absurd

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Theater Critic

•	'The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged' 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 4 p.m Sundays; through Oct. 13 Yellow Brick Studio $10; 591-7999

If you like your Shakespeare on the wild and irreverent side, then you won't want to miss "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged."

The script by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield plays like a wild fraternity party, complete with cross-dressing, bawdy sexuality, and throwing up on the unsuspecting. Written more than 10 years ago and knocking audiences loopy ever since, the show claims to represent all of Shakespeare's plays — at least by reference or innuendo — and does it all in less than two hours.

Directed by Devon Leigh for The Actors' Group, the production starts slowly, perhaps because she's unnecessarily doubled the original cast size and has trouble finding the natural rhythm in the piece.

Written for just three performers, the show works best when it's strung out to its comic extreme: three zany guys apparently improvising out of control and having a whale of a time doing it. Underneath, split-second timing and a wonderful human connection power the laughs and pull the audience out of the ordinary and into the outer reaches of absurdity.

There is no half way or holding back. There is simply to be or not to be. And remember, "you don't have to do it justice, just do it."

Credit what works in the first part of the TAG production to Joseph Graves and Sam Olecki, with a minor assist from Stephanie Kuroda. Euphrosyne Rushforth and Cecilia Lam also appear.

Graves has the innocent goofiness of a young Tom Hanks, while Olecki's style is to be self-depreciating with a wry and crafty edge. Both play all the major parts in "Romeo and Juliet," including a Nurse with an exploding bosom. They chant through a rap version of "Othello" and stage all the history plays as a football game with the crown of England replacing the ball.

Other bits work less well. Shakespeare's 16 comedies are combined into one, while "Macbeth" becomes a buzz saw of unintelligible Scottish burrs.

Topical references are added, and neither help nor seriously harm the flow. We hear about Martha Stewart, the brothers Bush, and Wahiawa. But the show doesn't begin to hit on all cylinders until Act Two.

Here Olecki and Graves are joined by Elisabeth Anne Wenzel for a fractured retelling of "Hamlet," and the play hits just the right rhythm and stride.

The Ghost dangles from a line on a fishing pole. The play within a play is performed by sock puppets. Hamlet is fixated on Ophelia's breasts and the actor doubling as both the King and the Queen changes costumes so often the roles blend into that of a single cross-dresser.

There's audience participation while the cast deconstructs the character of Ophelia into its Freudian components crowned by a single hysterical scream. She drowns by splashing herself in the face with water from a champagne glass.

They do it fast. They do it faster. Then they do it backwards.

By this time the audience is helpless and wiping its eyes.

You don't have to be a fan of Shakespeare to enjoy the nonsense. But listen up, because the references begin to fly like ammunition.