We took the kids to the West End last night to see "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged". For those of you that are unfamiliar with the play, it is comedy where the three actors cover all of the Shakespeare plays in one show. There are snippets of each, some are long, some just mere references but they still manage to get all 37 plays in. It was hilarious. All three actors in this production were Americans which was a surprise. When we told the kids we had tickets, they were underwhelmed. They carried through with their sulky "I am a teenager and I may make your life difficult for awhile" personas for the first few minutes but we spied them laughing quite a bit and later agreed it was quite a bit of fun.
Some of the highlights - the rap of Othello, the "spaghetti-loving brother" according to the play; the play-by-play of all the Kings in Shakespeare plays done in American football announcer style; the audience participation. The actors definitely involve the audience throughout the production, some in the audience actually end up on stage. At one point one of the actors borrowed a program from someone in the audience. Another actor chastised him and said "Hey dude, don't take that. She paid a lot of money for that - 3 pounds. That's like $10.00 in real money".
The show closes next week. You don't have to like Shakespeare to enjoy it. I think in London it really only runs for the summer but I understand there are productions in the US as well. If you get a chance, go. The WTF family gives it 8 thumbs up, our highest salute!
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