Watch the hysteria unfold when three actors get together and challenge themselves to perform all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays. For those who feel
Shakespeare’s too serious or too high falutin’, or for anyone who wants two hours of sheer belly laughs.
Melissa Rain Anderson (“The Fantasticks,” GRSF, 2011) returns to direct Christopher Gerson, Chris Mixon, and Brian White in this knock-down, drag-out farce.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare is a hilarious and occasionally ribald spoof containing a few sexually-based jokes. We recommend the production for audiences who enjoy satire and who are comfortable with a spot or two of innocent, off-color humor.
For more background, listen to the 7 minute podcast: listen | download
After attending the show last evening, I was curious to see just how it was presented on your website. I wondered if we had taken the time to preview the trailer, if we might have saved ourselves from the vulgar, potty humor that laced all the vignettes together. Others in the audience near us shared our sentiments. Some of the comments that I heard were, “Third grade boy humor”, “Offensive”, “So beneath the talents of these actors”. Wow. I wondered who could have taken the time to write the material. There was so much potential in the idea and vision. For our party of four, you totally missed the boat.
One final comment. Children were in the audience. As parents and teachers, it seems to us that you would have an obligation to disclose that this show contains sexually explicit and implied language, dialog, gesturing, so parents can judge whether they want their children (or themselves) to see this. You may not consider the language, dialog and gestures to be offensive, and so felt no need to disclose it. Surely, many laughed at the base body humor, but by no means all. Maybe you need to broaden your horizons to consider a more genteel audience, who respect human bodies and persons more than you seem to do, and give us the choice to decide to stay home.
Posted on behalf of Paul Barnes, Artistic Director
Dear Mr. or Ms. Ruff:
Thank you for posting your comments about your experience attending a recent performance of our production of Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield’s “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).” I appreciate your taking the time to write; it means a lot that you care enough about the Festival and have had positive enough experiences attending other productions for you to express your dissatisfaction. Yours is not the only comment of its kind that playgoers have passed along; as a result of the objections people have expressed, we have posted disclaimers on our website and have asked our box office personnel to mention that the play’s content may not be appropriate for all audiences. I realize that it’s not going to be possible to please all of our audiences all of the time; it’s the risk we take any time we commit to producing any play, whether it’s by Shakespeare or another author — and it’s always helpful to know how our audiences are responding to our work. I do hope you’ve had more satisfying experiences with our other 2012 season productions, “King Lear,” and “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” though if you haven’t seen them yet and plan to attend, I’d caution that “King Lear” contains scenes of intense violence, that the resolution of “Two Gents” hinges on a near date-rape incident, and both plays contain passages of bawdy humor, as do most of Shakespeare’s plays.
I’m sure that Irene ErkenBrack, our Director of Sales and Marketing would be happy to arrange a refund for your tickets, or, if you’d prefer, complimentary tickets to performances of other our 2012 season offerings. Please contact Irene at 507-474-7900 to discuss these arrangements.
Again, it means a great deal to all of us at GRSF that you would express your concern and discontent. Thank you for taking the time to write.
Sincerely,
Paul Barnes
Artistic Director