Written by Adam Long,
Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield
Directed by James
Scott
Honest Puck
CADA Theatre,
Fyshwick to 2 August 2015
Review by Len Power
Thirty seven plays, three actors, 97 minutes. That’s the
promise made with ‘The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged)’. You even get the sonnets thrown in, too.
This delightfully loony show started off at the Edinburgh
Festival Fringe in 1987 and ran in London for 9 years. It’s not surprising as it’s a great audience
pleaser but it has to be done well to succeed.
Luckily, the three actors in the Honest Puck production are
in full command of the show, never letting the frenzied action falter for a
moment. James Scott, the director and
cast member, displays excellent comic timing while also showing he has the
skills and voice to play any of the classic roles he’s sending up. His funniest moment had him trying to do ‘To
Be Or Not To Be’ from ‘Hamlet’ and dealing with giggling audience members at
the same time.
 |
| Left to right: Yorick, Ryan Pemberton, Brendan Kelly and James Scott |
The show is a brilliant showcase for the two young actors in
the cast – Brendan Kelly and Ryan Pemberton.
Brendan Kelly is hysterically funny trying to patch up moments where
things apparently are going wrong like mixing up a biography of Shakespeare
with that of Hitler or finishing Othello with the final lines of Romeo and
Juliet and still managing to make them rhyme.
He demonstrated a strong talent for the mechanics of farce and his mock
innocence was very appealing.
 |
| Romeo and Juliet (guess who's Juliet....) |
Ryan Pemberton plays the straight man much of the time in
the show but has his moments of high comedy, too. Left alone on the stage when the other actors
have refused to continue, his nervous attempts to fill in and entertain were delightful. His interaction with audience members was
skilfully done and his sense of timing in physical and verbal comedy was very
impressive.
 |
| Someone needs a Band-Aid.... |
Director, James Scott, has produced a highly entertaining
show which moves at a wild pace without letting up for a moment. He keeps it visually interesting with the use of crazy
props and improvisations and the physical comedy is very well staged. The Tudor-looking set by Geoff Patterson and
Luke Patterson works very well and the wacky costumes have been well-executed
by Imogene Irvine and Kathleen Masters.
There’s a lot of amusing audience interaction in this show but
nothing threatening. Well, OK, you might
get vomited on but no-one on opening night seemed to mind. You don’t need to know anything about
Shakespeare’s plays to enjoy this. In fact,
it might be an advantage!
Len Power’s reviews
are also broadcast in the ‘Artcetera’ program on Artsound FM 92.7 on Saturdays
from 9am.
