Article:9951; Posted: July 10, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.

Let it be noted here that there will never be another Shakespeare because you can’t write “Hamlet” 140 characters at a time. The trio of rude mechanicals performing in Ann Arbor’s West Park have a solution to the Great Shakespearean Problem – that his works are long and therefore boring. That remedy is “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged),” the zany comedy which opens Penny Seats Theatre Company’s fifth summer season at the park.

The play is the brainchild of the Reduced Shakespeare Company — three sketch comedians, Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. The format would make a Twitter user titter. Take all of Shakespeare’s plays, wad them in a ball and then slice and dice until 37 plays can be performed in 90 to 97 minutes. Act I comprises 36 works; Act II is “Hamlet.” The result is a run-away freight train of humor.

Penny Seats Theatre’s production is directed by Anne Levy and features Matt Cameron, Artun Kircali, and Leanne Young. Three performers condensing over 1100 characters means a lot of running and a lot of wigs. So how successful are our stalwart thespians in getting it all down to 90 (or so) minutes? Well not quite on the mark. This production was clocked at about one hour, 50 minutes. Now it is possible that the original production was a one act, thus buying some time and permitting the script to make frequent references to the hour and half run. I see no history that suggests it was a one act. There is a more basic reason available.

The three fathers of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)” knew the show because they wrote it. That familiarity allowed them to rip at a suitable madcap pace. Frankly, it would probably take months longer than a standard rehearsal period for other performers to do the same. Any time the tempo falters, the overall time lengthens. Where does this show up most obviously? In the second act, when out-of-character characters, in cross dress and silly wigs, echo the great days of slapstick humor. Yet the pace slows. It becomes a funeral dirge in an overly long, audience-participation bit that attempts to illustrate Ophelia’s state of mind before her suicide.

I can imagine this piece played in a small theater where the artists can command and direct the attention of their audience. In West Park on a fair summer evening, though, “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) must compete for attention with breezes, birds and bugs. It’s a challenge, and can be like shutting the windows in English Lit class on a warm, spring feverish afternoon—necessary, but tough at times to keep the attention of every pupil.

Article: 9951