The Houston Press….2/22/07

The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) 

Take Shakespeare's entire oeuvre, add great quantities of British pantomime -- outlandish drag, boob humor and silly slapstick -- gloss it with lowbrow Benny Hill and the higher absurdity and wit of Monty Python, add healthy doses of uppers and caffeine, and then just sit back and laugh yourself stupid. This sidesplitting reduction of Shakespeare, fully entertaining via a trio of madcap guys at Texas Repertory Theatre Co. (the original played for ten years in London), not just takes down the Bard, but first spins him overhead before bouncing him off the ropes and head-butting him to the ground. While dissing the Great One, this zany whirl respects him, too, if only subliminally. So, for example, all the histories are played as a spirited football game with the English crown being tossed down field; the comedies are encapsulated in the whacked-out, ridiculously plotted "The Love Boat Goes to Verona"; the tragedy of Othello is animated with uptown rap; and the surreal, gory Titus Andronicus is parodied as a TV cooking show. The second act is devoted to Hamlet, and if their initial telling is not funny enough, which it most surely is, then you get to see the boys perform it faster, then fastest, then backwards. Even a passing knowledge of the plays will not deter your admiring laughter. The ultra-talented trio boasts Craig A. Miller, Steven Fenley and Ryan Schabach, who stop at nothing to get a laugh, for which we thank them heartily. Through March 3.