Whenever the lights came up during The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), I experienced something quite tragic.
As the performers plowed into typical audience banter, I tried to sink lower into my seat. QPAC’s Cremorne Theatre makes for an uneasily intimate venue, especially when one isn’t enjoying a show. In a larger space, perhaps with the lights turned down, you could have comfortably crossed your arms and fumed without too many noticing. But when you’re only metres away from a performer on stage, you don’t tend to have this luxury. All you can really do is smile and pretend that everything is okay.
The Complete Works, as the title implies, is a Shakespearean mash-up of sorts, and an old one at that – though not as old as the Bard himself. In the years since it was first performed in 1987, it has seen many revivals all around the world. Here in Brisbane, we last saw it in 2007, with Damian Callinan and Frank Woodley leading a well-received rendition. The reason for the show’s resounding success, no doubt, is its flexible script. The original writers created a show designed to alter with time, one which is open to new comic interpretations. Naturally, pop culture references are updated, jokes are given a local flavour, and ideally, this is what keeps the show fresh, contemporary and relevant for a new generation.
But in this new production by the State Theatre of South Australia, we have Callinan return in a cast with little to offer in the way of fun. The jokes feel sloppy, a little too crass to work as good blue humour. Shakespeare himself delved into a bit of that at times. Who could forget the unsettling image of a ‘beast with two backs’ in Othello? But the key difference here is a matter of skill; while Shakespeare slyly winks at his audience, the performers in this parody of the Bard’s work lack his subtle cheek or his playful way with words. If this production were just fun and games between friends at a bar, the show might have passed as acceptable. But as a drawcard in this year’s Brisbane Festival program, I couldn’t be more disappointed.
Despite of all my fuming, however, I will draw your attention back to the audience on opening night. Most of them were indeed laughing. At one point, during a questionable routine involving a ninja-fied Tybalt, the laughter in the room simply swelled. The Brisbanites completely ate it up. How can I account for this disparity in reactions? Have I become humourless? Am I a prude? Or am I one of those people who can’t help feeling an aversion to any sort of literary send-up?
But really, I mustn’t fret. I believe we could more accurately call this a case of the ‘ideal audience’. One of the largest laughs of the night came from a reference to Two and a Half Men, a sitcom I happen to find abhorrent. While I may not find it funny, this humour has a market, an ideal audience, of which I am not. So for some comedy consumers, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare will certainly succeed, without needing a bit of wit to win them over.
Rating: 1 ½ stars out of 5
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
A state Theatre Company of South Australia production
Cremorne Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre
21 September – 6 October
Brisbane Festival 2013
www.brisbanefestival.com.au
7 – 28 September
