The Complete Works of Willam Shakespeare (abridged)

What a challenge it was to perform the 37 plays of William Shakespeare in under two hours, a challenge that was met by the cast of Chorley Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society ‘s latest very funny production "The complete Works of William Shakespeare” (abridged) which parodies  comically the plays of William Shakespeare in a shortened or merged form. First performed at the Edinburgh fringe festival in 1987, It was the longest-running comedy in London’s West End at the Criterion Theatre running for 9 years, and was written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield who were  founding members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company. The play holds the world record for the shortest-ever performance of Hamlet taking 43 seconds and also the fastest performance of Hamlet backwards, at 42 seconds. Directed by Sean Duxbury this play is fast paced and was full of what could be called slapstick comedy with lots of improvisation and a great deal of audience participation, while using a number of different costumes, props and wigs. The whole play was performed by three very talented actors who used their own names they were Andrew Kidd, Steve Unsworth and Steven “Jools Catterall, who all had excellent comic timing, worked together as a team and fed off each other’s improvisations brilliantly and who also had an excellent rapport with the audience.

There was one very effective static set which consisted of two large prints of what is said to be a portrait of Shakespeare himself, one at each side of the stage and a backcloth of an enlarge print of Tudor London. Congratulations must go to Stage Manager Siobhan Edge and the excellent stage crew, props, set builders and the technical team. Technical design was by Paul Carr and Sandra Dickinson managed to enhance the feel and setting of the production with some very good costumes.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this production as did the rest of the audience who were laughing loudly for most of the night. Diction clarity of words and the pace of the performance were excellent and well timed and even though there was lots of laughter the action could be followed easily. This production can be summed up by a quote from my colleague on leaving the theatre when she said her sides were aching with laughing.

Congratulations to everyone involved in bringing this outstanding comedy to the stage, thank you for inviting us we really!! enjoyed this performance.

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