SummerStage at Lapham Peak continues its outdoor summer theater season this week as it opens a production of the Reduced Shakespeare Company's “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).” The comedy that features a group of actors rushing through the basics on everything Shakespeare ever wrote is a good choice. There has been so very much by the man that has been produced lately. (I recently saw 4 Shakespeare shows in 8 days. There's another one opening this coming month . . . )
The show is a mixed bag of comedy that I've seen staged in a number of different ways over the years. The big-budget Milwaukee Rep production that I saw didn't have the same vitality as the World's Stage production I saw prior to it. And the Soulstice production that I saw some time ago was able to execute certain elements of comedy that neither of the other companies were capable of. A weird and strangely eclectic mix of Shakespeare-based sketch comedy, The Complete Works is the great equalizer of comic theatre. It doesn't matter how much money a production has--it's going to mess-up in some ways and do really well in others.
The SummerStage production runs July 25th through August 3rd at Lapham Peak State Park. For more information, visit SummerStage online.
