How do you make 400-year-old Shakespearean text appeal to modern-day audiences? Put three guys on stage to abridge all 36 of his plays and turn them into one massive comedy.
The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, is an outrageous take on the classics we learned in high school but would have retained so much easier had it been taught this way.
Scarborough Players took a risk in staging a show with Shakespeare in the title, but the risk paid off as it is definitely the funniest and wackiest show you will ever see.
You don't even have to know anything about Shakespeare to appreciate the play as comedy at its finest.
The three men who succeeded in giving Shakespeare an image adjustment and making it appealing to all, John Palmieri, Martin Buote and Trevor Cartlidge, play actors bringing their abridged version to stage because it is "impossible" to do all 36 plays in 90 minutes.
While they touched upon each play, the two main shows played out were the opener Romeo and Juliet and the closer Hamlet.
The actors portrayed various characters, used a variety of wacky props and modernized the stories in unique reenactment scenarios.
They rapped and danced the story of Othello because they are white and wanted to authenticate the story (Othello was black). Macbeth was done in Scottish kilts and accents, and they portrayed Julius Caesar as rednecks.
They told the stories while playing football, backwards, within a puppet show and dressed in drag; all of which made this show unique to say the least.
It was one over-the-top moment after the next - some of us were 'vomited' on, one guy was called a pervert by Juliet during the balcony scene and audience members were pulled to join the actors on stage to help out with various scenes including a dance number.
The actors constantly stepped out of character to address each other and the audience, and it didn't distract from the performance, it actually enhanced it.
The experience was more like watching a variety or late night talk show rather than watching a theatre piece.
This trio oozed talent. It was an exhausting theatre experience only because the laughter is non-stop. They couldn't have pulled it off without comedic timing and personality, and there was no shortage of either.
This is the type of show that if it was on DVD it could be enjoyed over and over again.
So if you want to see Shakespeare like you've never seen it before and laugh your heart out, this is the show to see. You won't be disappointed.
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The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) remaining shows are May 29 - 31, June 5 - 7, 8 p.m. and a 2 p.m. matinee on June 1, at the Scarborough Village Theatre 3600 Kingston Rd. Tickets are $17 and $14 for students and seniors on Thursdays and Sundays only. For tickets call 416-396-4049.