STATE ED The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) by adam long, daniel singer and jess winfield by adam long, daniel singer & jess winfield director Adam Cook designer Ailsa Paterson lighting designer Ben Flett composer Stuart Day cast Damian Callinan, Nic English and Tim Overton duration Approx 135 minutes suitable for Years 9 - 12 Performed by arrangement with Hal Leonard Australia Pty Ltd Images by Ailsa Paterson, Shane Reid and Utah Shakespearean Festival p.2 Study Guide The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) By Alison Howard © 2011 Table of Contents Cast/Creative Team 4 Playwrights 5 Adam Long 5 Daniel Singer 5 Jess Winfield 6 About The Play 7 Excerpt from Shakespeare in Neon Colors 7 Pop Culture Allusion 8 From The Director 9 Actor Profiles 10 Damian Callinan 10 Nic English 11 Tim Overton 11 Synopsis 12 The Characters 13 The Language 13 About William Shakespeare 14 The Works of William Shakespeare 16 The Globe Theatre 16 Forms and Conventions 17 Conventions of Shakespearean Comedy 17 Improvisational Theatre 17 Interesting Reading 18 The Reduced Shakespeare Company 18 Set Design 19 Ailsa Paterson 19 Essay Questions 22 English Questions 22 Drama Questions 23 Design 23 Performance 23 Immediate Reactions 24 Design Roles 25 Further Resources 26 Shakespeare Study 26 Theatrical Comedy and Improvisation 26 Web Links* 26 References 26 p.3 Study Guide The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) By Alison Howard © 2011 State Theatre Company of South Australia presents The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) by adam long, daniel singer & jess winfield cast & creative team ensemble Damian Callinan Nic English Tim Overton director Adam Cook designer Alisa Paterson lighting designer Ben Flett composer Stuart Day p.4 Study Guide The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) By Alison Howard © 2011 Playwrights adam long Founding Member/Writer/Performer Before “falling into” the business of Shakespearean performance, which he deemed only a hobby, Adam Long was an accountant, musician, and stand-up comic. However, of the original three, he stuck it out the longest, not leaving Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) until he had delivered Ophelia’s modified line “I’m out of my tiny little mind” more times than even he could count. His particular specialties were Shakespeare’s women, all of whom were said to “look alike and suffer from indigestion,” (Gussow). In defense of the Winfield, Singer, Long paring down of Shakespeare, he cites a poem by Allen Ginsberg: “I saw the best minds of my generation/ Destroyed by madness / Starving, hysterical, naked; / Dragging themselves through the negro / Streets at dawn / Looking for an angry fix” (Howl, Kaddish and Other Poems [London, Penguin, 2009]). “I knew,” continued Long, “that we weren’t [really] the best minds of our generation, but we were starving and hysterical. And we often went without clothes” (Writer’s Notes, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Long went solo as a writer and director in 2003; he has since abridged another’s distinguished canon, the works of Charlie Dickens, or Dickens Unplugged. daniel singer RSC Founder/Writer/Performer In 1981, inspired by Stoppard’s The Dogg’s Troupe 15-minute Hamlet, Daniel Singer,an American and recent student of drama at the Guildford School near London, dreamed up the outline of what was to become The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Singer held auditions for his amateur production, which initially was just a half-hour Hamlet and a much reduced Romeo and Juliet (proudly performed in Mall courtyards). Singer, along with Adam Long and Jess Borgeson, who later changed his name to Winfield, emerged as the primary performers, eventual founders of the Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC), and co-authors of the world’s most condensed Complete Works, clocking in at a dizzying ninety-seven minutes. They “juggled Shakespeare’s plays as if they were hot coals,” showcasing their stopwatch performances world-wide, from Washington D.C., to London’s West End, to Israel, Malta and Bermuda” (Mel Gussow, The Essential Shakespeare, as You Might Like It, in Two Hours [Theatre Review: New York Times, 1991]). Miraculously, “instead of pooh-poohing this preposterous attempt by three eternally adolescent American[s] . . . the critics went wild with admiration” (Cavendish). However young at the time of the RSC’s inception, Daniel Singer was no novice to theatre ingenuity; at the age of eighteen he co-founded the General Amazement Theatre in Santa Rosa, California, which produced three plays, including Singer’s own musical adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Though he started the mad ball rolling, Singer was the first to flee the fast lane of “Bardian abridgment.” In 1989 he left RSC and went to work as an Imagineer at Walt Disney; here, among other things, he helped design mini-theme parks Splash Mountain, Toontown, and Indiana Jones. Singer also helped organise another acting troupe, The Flower Street Players, for which he co- produced six plays, as well as directed and starred in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. p.5 Study Guide The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) By Alison Howard © 2011 Playwrights jess winfield Founding Member/Writer/Performer Perhaps the most outspoken of the three, Jess Winfield (because no one could pronounce Borgeson) theorised that “every theatre-goer, deep in his heart, wants to see Shakespeare ripped to shreds; we fulfil that fantasy” (Entertainment Tonight, Weekly Edition, July 2, 1989). He must have assumed that the populace felt similarly about James Joyce, for Winfield has since satirically reduced Joyce’s great work Ulysses: Jam Joy Yes, his self-proclaimed personal best. After resigning from Reduced Shaskespeare Company (RSC), he too, went to work for the magical world of Disney, earning two daytime Emmy awards for his work on the television series Teacher’s Pet starring Nathan Lane and Jerry Stiller. He has also worked on feature films, including Leroy & Stitch! The Movie. In 2008, he wrote My Name is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs and Shakespeare. During their illustrious collaboration, Winfield, Singer, and Long displayed supreme confidence in Master Will’s good humour; when asked to conjecture what the orthodox playwright would think of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Jess Winfield confidently replied “Shakespeare would not only approve of their play, he would go bowling with them after the performance” (America’s Talking Network, “Break a Leg, with Bill McCuddy,” 1995). Still, however devoutly these men practice the belief that “brevity is the soul of wit,” their acts of abridgment, at least as far as the great Shakespeare is concerned, are not without some conscience: “the deed is done,” Adam Long softly laments. “May the Bard forgive us” (The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), xxii). Copyright © 2009, Utah Shakespearean Festival See references p.26 for full copyright information p.6 Study Guide The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) By Alison Howard © 2011 About The Play In August of 1981 a few young performers set out to create a half-hour version of Hamlet for the Novato California Renaissance Pleasure Faire. In the originator, Daniel Singer’s own words: “the result was far more comical than I had originally planned. Our venue was hot, dusty, noisy, and full of distractions. Holding an audience’s attention was unusually challenging. Drunken hecklers, intrusive parades, and backstage confusion forced us to improvise bits . . . which constantly improved as our schtick evolved.” These conditions are reminiscent of what many scholars imagine the young William Shakespeare himself would have faced travelling through Renaissance England and later in his own Globe Theatre on the South Bank of London. From these challenging circumstances came two performances, 400 years and an ocean apart, that share timeless comedic elements: actor to audience interaction, limited use of scenery, contemporary allusions and, of course cross-dressing. Since its inception during the 1980s, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) has been seen on stages across the world, with a decade-long run on London’s West End. The script is reworked and redeveloped at every one of its productions, thereby remaining uniquely contemporary and delightful to every one of its audiences. excerpt from shakespeare in neon colors By Olga A. Pilkington For full text visit http://www.uop.edu.jo/download/research/members/CompleteGuide.pdf The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is an hilarious adaptation of the Bard’s thirty- seven plays presented with even more hilarious scholarly commentaries by the author of “I Love My Willy” and “one of America’s preeminent Shakespearean scholars” who while at the University of California at Berkeley “read two books about William Shakespeare” (Long, Singer, Winfield, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [New York: Applause, 1987], 8). Watching this play is perhaps similar to flipping channels on a Saturday night—one minute it’s a melodrama, the next a history program followed by a cooking show, and finally, nothing like a good game of football to complete the evening. John Lariviere claims that this play is capable of “turning an evening of Shakespeare into something out of Saturday Night Live” (http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/ sfla/sfla219.html, March 26, 2009). The play will delight everyone—those audience members who barely know who Shakespeare is and which state he is from (Utah, of course) and those who have committed to memory every line the Bard ever wrote. The audience members will walk away from the theatre having discovered such truths as, “Comedies aren’t half as funny as the tragedies” (Long, Singer, Winfield, 36) or Shakespeare “dictated to his secretary, Rudolf Hess, the work Mein Kampf (12) and followed that up with a play on the effects of nuclear energy on the Soviet Union—“Chernobyl Kinsmen” (39). While The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is full of slapstick comedy and bawdy jokes in the worst traditions of Shakespeare himself, it also points out some amusing facts about the Bard’s writings which even real scholars will be able to laugh about. The Complete Works of William p.7 Study Guide The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) By Alison Howard © 2011 Shakespeare (Abridged) discusses how Shakespeare “‘distilled’ the three or four funniest gimmicks of his time, and milked them into sixteen plays” (33). The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) promptly corrects Shakespeare’s wordiness by taking “the liberty of condensing all sixteen of Shakespeare’s comedies into a single play” (33). And, of course, what discussion of the Bard’s genius can bypass the authorship question? The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) offers its own “groundbreaking” theory (41). The play also delves into the depths of Hamlet. After watching The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), the audience will develop doubts about whether or not this is really the longest of Shakespeare’s plays. After all, The Complete Works presents Hamlet not once, not twice, but three times. In addition to this, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) “ is notable for holding the (self-proclaimed) world record for the shortest- ever performance of Hamlet, clocking in at 43 seconds” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Complete_ Works_of_William_Shakespeare_(abridged)March 26, 2009). Some might be surprised to find out that The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. However, it was not the Royal Shakespeare Company that originated the show. Reduced Shakespeare Company’s founder, Daniel Singer, wrote the play. The company describes itself as “a three-man comedy troupe known for taking long, serious subjects and reducing them into short, sharp comedies”(http://www.reducedshakespeare.com/). In fact, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) was Reduced Shakespeare Company’s first show. The ninety-seven minute show began with a 1981 twenty-five minute version of Hamlet written by Singer. The show premiered at a California Renaissance fair but wasn’t a success until “Three weeks into the run of the production . . . one of the actresses broke her ankle. It was after she was replaced with a man in drag named Adam Long that the show developed a large following” (Lariviere). Copyright © 2009, Utah Shakespearean Festival. (See references for full copyright information) pop culture allusion The play contains a number of allusions to pop culture, items or ideas of common or popular knowledge, usually very current, mentioned but not actually explained or explored within the text as the author presumes the reader will understand the connection. Within The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) these allusions are used for comedic effect. This show has developed through improvisation over more than twenty years. Though some sections, like Hamlet, have remained almost unchanged, other sections, like the football scene, have been adapted to suit popular media as well as the various locations of the production. (It has been portrayed as a rugby, soccer, or Aussie Rules footy.) While the script published by Applause Books in 1994 was replete with references to Ronald Regan and Chernobyl, the most recent authorized script copy, which the Utah Shakespearean Festival 2009 production uses, includes updated references to the following: The View, iPod, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, LOL, and Desperate Housewives. Copyright © 2009, Utah Shakespearean Festival. See references p26 for full copyright information p.8 Study Guide The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) By Alison Howard © 2011 From The Director adam cook Director What kind of theatrical work can we do at the State Theatre Company? Not so much what should we do as what could we do? It’s a perennial question for me. In the eight years I was the Artistic Director at State Theatre Company we produced a very broad range of plays - the most accessible kinds of comedy, but also plays that are deeply emotional, tough, confronting as well as formally innovative. I’ll always provide a fair amount of “meat on the bone” in any season, as well as the occasional piece of fluff like the one you’re going to see tonight! Who’s afraid of William Shakespeare? Many, many people think of his work as inaccessible and elitist. “I hate Shakespeare” is a phrase I’ve often heard. Personally I’ve always been a Bardolator, a signed up fan from my teenage years. If you’ve seen a good production of a Shakespeare play, I don’t think you’d still hate him. I reckon bad productions are to blame, and the received idea that his language is Willfully [sic] difficult. This project came out of an impulse to do a show that exploded beyond the proscenium arch and out into the auditorium, that not only courted the audience’s favour, but asked it out on a date and then hit on it! We also performing this play during the ComeOut Festival in South Australia, so for daytime shows we’re more likely to try to buy the audience a milkshake and suggest we hold hands. I think this play is a great way to invite you all to explore the world of Shakespeare without being afraid of it, or worse, bored by it. This play is now over twenty years old, and has enjoyed success in the USA (where it was first performed) and throughout the world. It’s easy to see why it continues to have a long life, as Shakespeare’s plays are always ripe material for parody. While it’s irreverent, silly, and hugely energetic, at its heart is a celebration of Shakespeare - his famous stories, the blistering and gruesome violence, the love, the death, the struggles for power, and the wonderful language. It’s a play full of sight gags, groaning puns, and very broad acting. It’s meant to be rough and vulgar, and very, very silly. To use a malapropism that came out of rehearsals one day, “it ain’t rocket surgery”! But to call it a no-brainer would be to undervalue the skill and panache with which our trio of actors deploy their endlessly inventive armory of comic effects. The production’s inspired by medieval travelling theatres, a bit of the Child Catcher’s cart from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and – clearly! - that august ambulatory gastronomic institution, The Pie Cart, as well as the many-splendoured buskers of Rundle Mall in Adelaide. It’s quick, easy and good for you – but only because it’ll make you laugh. So, take your medicine and then I hope you’ll say - “For this light relief, much thanks!” p.9 Study Guide The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) By Alison Howard © 2011 Actor Profiles damian callinan Ensemble Damian is an award-winning standup comic, TV sketch show performer, broadcaster, actor and writer. He is best known to TV audiences for his roles on Skithouse, Before The Game and Comedy Slapdown as well as guest appearances on shows such as Spicks and Specks, Melbourne Comedy Festival Gala, The Great Debate and City Homicide. In 2010 he received a third nomination for the prestigious Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for The Merger (his 10th solo show), which he toured nationally in 2011/12/13. He has just completed a regional SA tour of his new show Roadtrip and a national tour of The Cave the Rave – A Comedy Dance Lesson, which saw him win the ABN Amro Foreign Exchange Award to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe. He is soon to appear in Backyard Ashes fulfilling an ambition to star in a feature film shot entirely in Wagga Wagga. Damian has performed in three previous productions of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) including two seasons at the Sydney Opera House, and also appeared alongside Nathan O’Keefe and Mark Saturno in State Theatre Company’s 2011 production and tour. 1. What is your process as an actor, when preparing a character for performance? In a production such as TCWOWS(A) the process of developing characters is quite different to creating a single character. Each of us is playing multiple characters from a range of Shakespeare’s plays so we have to be mindful of not doubling up types. There is no “deep” thought put into the character choices. For instance at the first read, I used a “cine-sound newsreel” voice for Laertes in Hamlet which everyone laughed at. I stuck with it and it got funnier, particularly when delivering his dying words in the same sing-song, chipper, public school lad way. As a result Laertes costume was changed and he now wears a Biggles flying hat and goggles. When creating characters in my own work, particularly for multi-character solo shows, the process is quite different. As I write the characters I am not only mindful of the voice and physical mannerisms but more importantly their role in the story; how they relate to the other characters and what is their arc? My most recent solo show The Merger was a sequel in which some characters reappeared. This led to subtle shifts in the characters as time altered them. One of these characters had begun initially as a comic juxtaposition: a bogan footy player who is culturally aware. However that fusion of stereotypes gave birth to a much more complex character than I had imagined and I have now based two full narrative shows around him. 2. Given the improvisational nature of this production and the audience participation required, how do you prepare for this during the rehearsal period and prior to each performance? Improvisation is very much part of our rehearsal process, however, the improvisations that work are worked into the script. There comes a time when the piece has to settle. However there are certain times and places where we can expect that we might depart from the script and we have to be ready for something different to happen. When the fourth wall is kicked down, as it is in this show, we have to expect that sometimes the unexpected will occur. You can’t prepare specifically for these moments but you can practice the art of letting the script breathe. I am a stand-up with an improv background so I am attracted to this show for that reason. No two shows are ever exactly the same. p.10 Study Guide The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) By Alison Howard © 2011