The 'Anus' play... (Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged))

Member Name: Critchyboy

Product:	Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)
Date:	03/10/01 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great entertainment, Hilarious

Disadvantages: None

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is a scam! They missed out a play - Coriolanus. Albeit for a very good reason. Who, after all, would want to perform the anus play..!?

I saw this production in Sheffield at the Lycem Theatre. I had always been interested by the premise offered by this play and had waited for the chance to go and see it. It has played the Edinburgh Fringe to rave reviews and it is a very good and entertaining piece of comedy theatre.

The set-up begins with the actors inroducing themselves and their love of theatre and Shakespeare himself before they launch into the routine. Believe me. Abridged is hardly the word I'd use. Murdered and ripped apart are some of the phrases that come to mind, but, thankfully, that is the point of the evening. Every Shakepeare play, except the anus one, comes under attack with, in most cases, hilarious results. The histories themselves are played like an American Football match with the ball passed from King to King as the years progress. Titus Andronicus becomes a cookery programme. The comedies are lumped together and this part of the show is a little bit of a let-down. Particularly if you are not familiar with the Bard's work. Part of the fun is knowing which play is having the rip taken out of it. You feel a little excluded from the joke if so. Though, in saying this expert knowledge of Shakespeare is not essential. I've not read any since 'A'-level. For most of the evening it is not required as it is perfectly obvious what is going on though the comedies did seem to fall a little flat.

The whole of the second half is given over to Hamlet and is performed a number of ways including a performance of the entire play in 12 seconds and, for an encore, backwards. It is in this section of the evening that the audience get involved. BEWARE! If you do not like the thought of being dragged forward onto the stage, sit nowhere near the front of the theatre!


The show itself is incredibly good - I hadn't laughed so much in ages. Many of the jokes were ad-libbed, much to the embarressment of the woman who did get a front row ticket and the family who sat in one of the boxes. (The family were nicknamed the Muppet family after Waldorf and Sattler of Muppet Show fame).

Overall, lots of fun, lots of laughs and a great evenings entertainment. This show seems to be on tour perpetually - go and see it if it is near you and give you funny bone a good work out.

I wonder what they would have done with the anus play...

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