Enjoy Shakespeares 37 Plays in 97 Minutes
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
If you're in need of a good laugh, head over to watch ``The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)" at M Theater, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in, downtown Seoul.
Don't let the name Shakespeare scare you off. There are no long monologues, no elaborate costumes, no heavy storylines and not even a lot of old English. This Shakespeare production will drive you to tears of laughter, not boredom.
The show's poster reads: ``All of Shakespeare's 37 plays in just 97 hilarious minutes.'' With only three actors, Ezra Bix, Tim Schwerdt and Keith Adams, you can't help but wonder how can they do it all in less than two hours?
Bix, Schwerdt and Adams manage to do all of Shakespeare's 37 plays, with a handful of sonnets thrown in for good measure. To find out how they do it, you'll have to see the show to believe it.
The show starts off with the tragic love story of ``Romeo and Juliet.'' Wearing neon colored tights and black high-top Converse sneakers, you know the three actors won't be doing ``Romeo and Juliet'' for the Globe Theater.
Instead, Shakespeare's tragedy is given the comic treatment. One look at Bix and Schwerdt donning bad wigs as Romeo and Juliet, is enough to send everyone into a fit of giggles, but add in slapstick comedy, and everyone in the audience is laughing their heads off.
One part that perhaps didn't work so well: Shakespeare's bloody ``Titus Andronicus'' is remade as a cooking show. While they attempted to make fun of the macabre murders in Titus, it seemed to fall flat. It is probably hard to laugh when Titus is slitting the rapist's throat and Lavinia has bloody stumps instead of hands.
The audience perked up when the three actors donned baseball caps, and started rapping the entire plot of ``Othello.'' The actors even did some beat-boxing, and rapped to Eminem's hit song ``Cleaning Up My Closet.''
Of course, no production about the works of Shakespeare would be complete without the tragedy ``Hamlet.'' As if the laughs from watching this comedic version of Hamlet are not enough, the audience will have a chance to watch it backwards too as the actors literally rewind their act.
Throughout the play, the actors also make funny references to Korean pop culture, like kimchi, Wonder Girls' ``Tell Me,'' and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
There are times when the actors seem more like crazy frat boys doing gags and running around the theater, but they succeed in making the audience laugh whether its part of the script or adlibbed.
Be warned though, that there's a fair amount of audience participation required. Just relax and enjoy the hilarity. Korean subtitles are shown on screens at the side of the stage, but one audience member noted the subtitles lagged behind the rapid-fire dialogue.
``The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)'' was first staged at the Arts Theatre, in London's West End in 1992. In 1996, it moved to the Criterion Theatre where it ran for nine years, making it London's longest running comedy.
The show runs through March 16. Shows are held Tuesday to Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Children under seven years old are not allowed in the theater.
Tickets are 55,000 won, 44,000 won and 33,000 won. Call Mast Entertainment at (02) 541-3150 (English available).