Pictured:  Jeffrey Bender (Left) as Juliet, and Jay Leibowitz as Romeo.

Photo: © Gerry Goodstein

Where King John Gets His on the 10-Yard Line

By Anita Gates - June 29, 2008

Don't you hate it when you're sitting in the front row and Hamlet looks up from his “Frailty, thy name is woman” speech, stares right into your eyes and adds, “Yeah, you”? (O.K., that's if you're female. Maybe into the eyes of your wife, girlfriend, sister, mother, colleague or classmate if you're male.)

But at that point in the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey's wacky production of “ The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) ,” the audience has been well warmed up and is in just the right mood for such silliness.

“ The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged )” is the sort of thing that might be funny even if the 12-year-olds in your neighborhood performed it. The two-hour show promises to present all of William Shakespeare's 17 comedies, 10 histories and 10 tragedies in one fell swoop. And in a way, it does.

The cast manages this by doing a goofy, very condensed “ Romeo and Juliet ,” following that with “ Titus Andronicus ” as a television cooking-show segment, turning “ Othello ” into a three-man rap number, combining all the comedies into one segment (because, one actor explains, they all have pretty much the same plot anyway) and staging all the histories as an American football game (King John is poisoned on the 10-yard line), complete with stadium lighting, precisely recreated by Tony Galaska. Then Act II is devoted to “ Hamlet ,” in shorter and shorter versions.

But it takes gifted comic actors to turn this Shakespeare into a seriously entertaining night out. The Shakespeare Festival of New Jersey's three-man cast, Jeffrey M. Bender, David Foubert and Jay Leibowitz, led by their director, Jason King Jones, come through with inspired performances and a highly contagious sense of fun.

For the most part, the script sticks to Shakespeare's original, eloquent language, which means younger theatergoers may begin to understand a little of the fuss about this long-dead playwright. Messieurs Bender, Foubert and Leibowitz's lively body language helps that understanding along.

This production hits plenty of contemporary notes to keep 21st-century audiences involved. In addition to audience participation, vintage movie and television themes (including “ Rocky ,” “ The Brady Bunch ” and the old “ Masterpiece Theater ”) and swords that turn into light sabers, there are references to YouTube, Ryan Seacrest and the Olive Garden. For local color, there are brief mentions of former Gov. James E. McGreevey and the Short Hills mall.

The show contains an array of completely unnecessary scatological and other gross-out jokes, presumably meant to amuse adolescents of all ages. Mercifully, most go by pretty fast. Really, the characters are funny enough on their own. Mr. Bender's deranged Ophelia, for instance, does a memorable drowning scene. (In this version, it doesn't happen quietly offstage.)

Charles Calvert's set, with 14-foot-tall books, and Summer Lee Jack's costume design add considerably to the show's cheery playfulness. Even the sound design, by Charles Harbert, gets into the comic act.

The company's Outdoor Stage production does have its particular benefits and disadvantages. You can picnic on the grounds beforehand. You can bring food and drink to your seat in the amphitheater. But for the ancient-Greek-style stone seats, audiences may want to bring pillows, blankets or low beach chairs. The box office also rents seat cushions and stadium seats.

“ The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), “ first performed in Scotland, at the 1987 Edinburgh Festival, has had at least two Off Broadway productions, and it stands up well.

The play's increasingly condensed “ Hamlet ” enactments do become tiresome after a while, but the one performed backward redeems the others. The last line of the play, spoken by the king's ghost, is “Oob.”

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Wilm Shkspr Stooooops to Conquer

By Bob Rendell

In a departure from its recent practice of producing ninety-minute one-act versions of Shakespeare comedies for its annual outdoor production at the amphitheater on the campus of the College of St. Elizabeth, the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey has mounted a full-length production of the popular parodistic The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), aka The Complete Wrks of Wilm Shkspr .

Running an hour and forty minutes or so, plus intermission, the production is as family audience friendly as prior outdoor STNJ productions. Given the relaxing outdoor setting, the delightful, uninhibited performances of the three-man troupe assembled for the occasion under the sure-handed direction of Jason King Jones, and the ephemeral, lowest comic denominator approach of the authors, it is unlikely that one could find a more ideal circumstance in which to see Wilm Shkspr .

After a bit of folderol during which the actors introduce themselves and the concept to the audience, we are treated to a fifteen- minute or so parody of Romeo and Juliet "where in a scene of timeless romance/ he'll try to get into Juliet's pants." We do get to hear some of the Bard's deathless poetry—well, sort of ("that which we call by any other name/ Would still smell"; "parting is such sweet sorrow/ Really, it is"). Friar Lawrence speaks in the manner of a member of Tony Soprano's crew. After learning of Romeo's death, Jeff Bender's Juliet flounces up the amphitheater's steps where she breathlessly says to a male patron, "He's dead. What are you doing tonight?" Next up is Titus Andronicus performed as a television cooking show. Herein the androgynous host and Livinia behead and eviscerate Alarbus and cook up his body parts. There is a reference to Rachael Ray (some initials familiar to her viewers are mentioned) which I missed, but was informed of subsequent to the first act. Because there is no black actor on hand, the story of Othello is related in rap style lyrics ("Here's a story about a man named Othello/ He liked white women and ate green jello").

Citing repeatedly recycled plot devices throughout Shakespeare's comedies, our new Reduced Shakespeare Company then condenses the sixteen Shakespeare comedies into a quick summary of their collage play The Love Boat Goes to Verona . This may have been very clever and encapsulating, but it ran by so quickly that I was unable to absorb, let alone digest it. Suffice it to say that, in the world of Wilm Shkspr , the tragedies are far funnier than the comedies. Brief versions of the Scottish play (here there's a line that I'm certain is new for New Jersey: "He looks more like McGreevy than Macduff"), Julius Caesar , Anthony and Cleopatra , and Troilus and Cressida . A play that Shakespeare likely co-authored is reduced to serving as a pun about a Soviet tragedy ("Chernobyl Kinsmen"). The histories are combined into a quick series of changes of fortune in the form of a football game. About to conclude, the actors discover that they have "missed" perhaps the greatest Shakespeare play of all. At this point, one frustrated actor flees the theatre with another in hot pursuit, necessitating an intermission before an extended précis of Hamlet .

There is little effort to look deeply into the plays for insightful observations and sharp humor. The hilarity is derived from a plethora of costume changes (as our three tireless actors move from role to role to role), endless puns of the groaner variety (many containing double entendres and sexual innuendo) and energetic, sometimes gross physical humor (I wonder if the repeated simulated vomiting was included in the text prior to the explosion of such humor in youth oriented screen comedies). There is more than a modicum of audience participation. It makes for a painless (even as we simulate pain at the puns), diverting night outdoors at the theatre. And Wilm Shkspr could be valuable in bringing Shakespeare to the attention of some of those youths who are the key demographic of today's movie audience.

Wilm Shkspr was written by American actors for themselves to perform. Author-actors Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield (aka The Reduced Shakespeare Company) performed the play in its premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1987. It subsequently played 2,000 performances in London, has had three successful, well received New York productions, and been a staple in regional theaters across America. Over the years, the pop culture references in the script have been updated. YouTube, Facebook and Ryan Seacrest were not around at the time of its genesis. I do not know which of the references have been scripted or improvised by the current cast and director, but there is a strong improvisational feel to Wilm Shkspr which accounts for much of the fun and high spirits generated by it. In recent years, it has become well established that actors other than the original authors can most successfully make this work their own.

Wilm Shkspr is an ensemble comedy in which precise timing, high energy and close interplay among the actors is crucial. Each actor plays "himself," which includes "himself" portraying a myriad of other roles. Among his other roles, Jeffery M. Bender plays all of the major female roles beginning with Juliet. Bender performs with the correct male comedian's distance from actual femininity. David Foubert is most adroit and amusing as the foppish academician who introduces the plays and serves as our guide. Foremost among his other roles is Hamlet. Jay Leibowitz is gruffly amusing as Romeo, and remains so through his many roles.

The lovely and eminently performable set is by Charles Calvert. It is made up of 20-foot-high, thick, authentic-looking books bearing the names of various Shakespeare plays on their bindings. Most are vertical, but three are horizontally laid atop one another, providing three additional playing levels. Also, the binding of one of the vertically placed books has three door sections at the bottom which can be opened individually or together, and are employed to excellent comic effect. Those witty costumes which require ease and rapidity in their donning and removal are by Summer Lee Jack.

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' Complete ' Shakespeare experience in Morris

Theatre company delivers a silly summary of Bard's works in Florham Park

By Menhan Van Dyk

FLORHAM PARK -- Adrienne Kirby arrived early with her husband Dillard and 13-year-old son Stark to set up trays of hors d'oeuvres, sandwich wraps and fried chicken on a large blanket on the campus of the College of St. Elizabeth last week.

Although they came to see the " The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) ," put on by the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, it's the picnicking beforehand that keeps the family coming back to the company's outdoor production year after year.

"This is the perfect way to kick start summer, with a picnic and a Shakespeare play," Adrienne Kirby of Mendham Township said, holding a glass of white wine. "It's always humorous, and you don't have to get dressed up."

" The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) " makes Shakespeare a little silly as three actors race their ways through Shakespeare's entire canon with a mix of pratfalls, puns, outrageous female impersonations, clean-cut ribaldry and broad burlesque. Jeffrey M. Bender, David Foubert and Jay Liebowitz star in the two-hour-long production, which is directed by Jason King Jones. Performances are Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8:15 p.m. through July 20.

"Outdoor theater is an experience our patrons crave, and it's also a great introduction for people who are less familiar with Shakespeare," Jones said. "The only downfall to putting on a performance out here is dealing with the elements, but we do our best to incorporate Mother Nature, or the planes taking off from Morristown Airport, into the production."

Audience members are invited to picnic before and during the performance on the lawn overlooking the Greek Theater, one of the few amphitheaters on the East Coast, according to Rick Engler , executive director of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, an independent, professional theater company located on the Drew University campus.

Outing is tradition.

Attending the company's annual outdoor stage production is a summer ritual for Gail and Ralph Laughlin of Maplewood and Lynn and John Schwartz of West Orange.

"This is what theater should be, the way it was intended to be -- overlooking the hills and valleys of northern New Jersey with no electricity or technology to speak of other than the spotlights," John Schwartz said.

Jennifer and Ned DeWitt of Mine Hill have been attending the event for the past three years.

They picked up dinner and cupcakes to go from Bella Luna in Chatham and sipped glasses of honey mead, in honor of Shakespeare, they said.

"This is the only Shakespeare I can drag (my husband) out to see," Jennifer DeWitt said. "We come prepared with blankets, cushions and sweaters. The only other thing I would recommend is bug spray."

A winning ticket.

Morristown Red Oaks School teachers Christa Doyle and Erminia Duffy were at the production with students Jake Mundo and Brianna Branch, who won the outing, picnic included, in an auction earlier in the year. "I like seeing Shakespeare performed, and I like performing it," 11-year-old Jake said. "I have no idea how they are going to cram in all of his plays into one."

It was Justine Bylon's first time at a Shakespeare Theatre production.

"I can't think of a better way to spend a beautiful summer night than here," the 19-year-old Livingston resident said. "It's like a giant campfire, but better."

Performances of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" are Tuesdays through Sundays at 8:15 p.m. at the Greek Theatre on the campus of the College of St. Elizabeth in Florham Park through July 20. Patrons are encouraged to bring blankets, lawn chairs and snacks to picnic before and during the production. Tickets are $31 for adults and teens, $16 for children under 12 and free for children under 5. For tickets or more information, call (973) 408-5600.