The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)

Shakespeare's complete works in less than two hours?

Believe it or not, Brown & Green Theatre actually pull it off as the 'Reduced Shakespeare Company' in a performance that has the audience rolling in the aisles, at least when it's ot participating in the show.

In all fairness, only a handful of dramas get any significant stage time in this show, which has been playing in the London West End since 1991. All of the comedies, for instance, are condensed into The Love Boat Goes to Verona, and the histories are hounded into a furious football game that has Henry VIII coming out victorious.

But The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) is not only funny because of the riotous versions of the original plays-such as Othello as a rap, Titus Andronicus as a cannibalistic cooking show and Julius Caesar with the entire dialogue in Latin-but also due to the many high and pop culture references. The show functions on several levels: as a slapstick comedy, as an actual summary of (at least some) Shakespeare and as a recognition game.

In practical terms, there are three actors and one commentator on stage. Ben Saunders gets most of the male leads and plays them like Monty Python figures. Adam Sampieri spends most of the evening frolicking in women's clothes, and James Weir switches between pretentious academic and such other roles as an Uber-Scot and a lisping Laertes. Off to the side, Karly Kaplan starts out explaining obscurer words, keeps a body count throughout the show and ends up completely drunk.

The second half of the show is the Reduced Shakespeare's rendition of Hamlet, complete with actor's workshop and Freudian interpretation. Make sure you stay to see the high-speed backwards version at the very end.

-By Norbert Schürer

The Compleat Works will be performed at the Coffeehouse on East Campus tonight and Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3 pm. Admission is $6.