My stomach still hurts from laughing at the Mosaic Theater’s presentation of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged. Wonderful old Willy, as one college professor referred to Shakespeare, is either as giddy as a forest filled with fairies or as disturbed in death as Hamlet’s father.
Whichever is the case, writers Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield have compressed the veritable works of the Western world’s foremost storyteller into an amazing 99-minute production.
How, you say? Well, thank you for asking.
Starring Jerry Seeger, Anthony Sacco and Christian Rockwell, the show careens hilariously between frat-house lawn party and dramatic Elizabethan sensibilities. Jerry, Anthony and Christian (I use their first names because throughout the show they break out of character to call each other by name) wear basic dark jeans, rubber-soled shoes and plain shirts.
Jerry, an impish man with a Puckish twinkle in his eye, greeted me at the door just before the start of the show. “Promise you won’t have a good time,” he said. I told him I’d do my best. Sorry, Jerry. Much as I tried, you guys got to me.
From the outset, the trio did little to transport its audience to an earlier era. Costumes, wigs and so forth were draped thoughtlessly over their regular clothes.
When the house lights dimmed, Jerry stood center stage while Anthony, in the raiment of royalty, sat holding a voluminous volume of the works of Shakespeare. Between the two of them, the show’s introduction, which included audience participation, took on the vibrancy of a contemporary religious event. Imagine Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rousing the masses at the Elizabethan Globe Theater.
Such juxtapositions supply the show’s spine. Also, the ability of the actors to seamlessly slip from a serious, heavy speech to a mocking or deprecating interjection showed their comfort level with the material. Not to mention that they appeared to be having as much fun as the rest of us.
Accessibility was definitely the unnamed co-star in the production. Any high school student who feels she or he is being forced to read dreary old Willy should run to the Mosaic Theater and catch this play before it leaves. It will not offer insight in a classical context, but it should relieve some of the anxiety and show contemporary relationship.
For example, the whole Romeo and Juliet romp was too, too funny. While Anthony and Jerry were delightful, Christian, man of many wigs, was absolutely a hoot. He ran from the stage, he ran across the stage, at one point he ran into the audience and began to climb into the seats, landing right at my row.
Fear not, it was merely the balcony scene and he was the fair Juliet. Anthony had introduced the scene, explaining that Romeo, “In a scene of timeless romance, will try to get into Juliet’s pants.”
Now, modern-day teens, I ask, surely you can understand that, right? Shakespeare may not have had music videos, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t understand getting jiggy.
Comedies were interspersed with tragedies and brief mention was made of sonnets and romances. Of course, no Shakespeare-a-palooza would be complete without The Great Dane.
Now, high schoolers, if you think I am referring to an animal that barks and requires long walks with a big scoop, again, I urge you to get thee to the Mosaic. Of course, The Great Dane was Hamlet. Long before Mel Gibson planted his famous tushie in those lucky tights, Shakespeare was connecting with Old World theatergoers on the themes of deception, betrayal and madness.
Well, there is classic Hamlet, then there is the Abridged version. All I can say is, you haven’t really lived till you’ve seen the entire play synthesized into less than five minutes and delivered backward.
When it was over, I remained seated to see if my good time was an anomaly or if others had shared it. The theater was pretty full. The young women behind me from Broward Community College said they, too, suffered from tummies taut from too much laughter. The crowd was a mixture of older folks, family people with smaller children, people who appeared to be sophisticated theatergoers and others who clearly were just happy to be out of the house for an afternoon.
Even so, most were smiling and I didn’t see or hear much to say that anyone had a bad time.
As much as the production made me laugh at the seriousness of Shakespeare’s works, it also made me crave a good, honest, classic production of one of the Bard’s more notable works. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that such a show comes to town. And if it does, I’ll check the actors’ shoes.
If I see rubber soles or suspect jeans underneath their robes, I’ll know something funny is up.
Sherri Winston’s column appears on Friday in Showtime; Wednesday in Lifestyle. She can be reached at or 954-356-4108.
