Complete Works fills Big Room with laughs

By Yan Digilov     3/26/09 7:00pm

They laughed. They cried. They screamed in horror. At times, audience members watching Sid Richardson College's production of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) even considered switching seats to avoid yet another flying projectile, bodily fluid or "human" head.The attempts of director Jacob Lindsey, a Sid junior, along with his small acting troupe of Brown College junior Colin Karlsson and Sid sophomore Graham Johnson, left the actors on stage in the spotlight for the entirety of the show, taking only the occasional break to die or change into a bigger wig. But their energy allowed this absurd rendition to deliver on the promise of its title, providing nonstop laughs as the actors colorfully butcher some of the English language's most cherished works.

The show is formatted as a quick run-through of Shakespeare's entire works. The crowd gets its first of many looks at Johnson in a wig when he opens as Juliet in the infamous romance. Then, using a great deal of artistic license, the cast gives their own versions of Titus Andronicus as a modern cooking show and Othello through the medium of R&B, an interpretation that would redefine the word "offensive" had the first 20 minutes of the show not established the fact that nothing is off limits for this performance.

The cast used this shtick to establish a bubble of absurdity that protected them from acting gaffes, poorly-delivered lines and unnecessary improvisation. But the bubble did its job, and while much of the show was spent laughing at Johnson, Karlsson and Lindsey as opposed to Romeo, Macbeth or Hamlet, all of the show was at least spent laughing.

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From the get-go, the juxtaposition of Karlsson and Johnson, who differ in height by about half a foot, creates a classical comedic environment. Lindsey, whose appearance may have initially convinced some that Ben Kweller had stuck around at Rice to give college theater a try, delivered lines with energy and believability.

The best part of the show was the interaction between the characters, who were asked to walk a fine line between bad acting and over-the-top comedy. Though the show would have been better off had the characters not attempted to yell in unison several times, their childish skirmishes and self-deprecating style of comedy hit the mark.

However, the show also asked them to trample the conventions of theatrical blocking and suspension of disbelief. For example, the crew combines all the comedies into one scene that features the entire range of Shakespeare's hackneyed plotlines. Next, they move into a fast-paced performance of the histories in the form of a football game, replacing the pigskin with a British crown. At all times, however, the characters are visible, facing the audience and moving with intention, however absurd it may seem.

The major criticism of these portrayals, though, would more than irk any fanatic of the English Bard. In either a display of questionable directing or difficult acting demands, the dialogue lacked a real semblance of Shakespearian performance. With no iambic meter, the words often made little sense. In eliminating that tool, the cast failed to add another dimension of comedy that has proved, through the trials of time, to embolden the works, rather than hinder them.

The loose enunciation also opens the door to occasional failed improvisational interventions. Most of these are unnecessary in a manner that comically pales in comparison to, say, Johnson's numerous perpetual deaths, vomiting sprees or his attempt to escape the show in order to avoid performing Hamlet.

The show should also come with a disclaimer to expect audience participation. After spending the first act clutching your gut for air, the mood may be right for some onstage interaction. However, one quickly realizes that the actors are funnier interacting with one another than they are directing audience members to perform as the subconscious.

The show finally ends with several repetitions of Hamlet, performed in a relatively normal manner, fast-forwarded and backwards. At the conclusion, one's true feelings towards the show are best expressed by an inanimate object - the set.

Upon entering the Sid Big Room, its presence is slightly awkward. As if giants had built it, the stage rises well above the audience with a large staircase dashing into the audience. And as the audience comes to the find out that the mammoth stage would be holding just three cast members, the question arises: Why?

Then come the awkwardly performed deaths, the offensive humor and the numerous romantic interactions between the actors, and the thought of an oversized stage becomes delightfully clever. To think that such effort was put into housing three characters that repeatedly express their desire to leave, one cannot help but appreciate the humor.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) may be the funniest show performed in the dreary basement this year. The actors repeatedly and cleverly infringe on the respect usually accorded to the works of Shakespeare. While the cost associated is a narrow maintenance of the script's innate comedic presentation, it still easily leaves you with a large net gain after the price of admission and, most importantly, an ache in your kidneys that will not be easy to shake.

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