2022 marks the fiftieth anniversary of The Stirling Players, based at The Stirling Community Theatre. After a successful year of performances, their final show in their year of celebration is none other than the side-splittingly funny The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged).
This production has been playing at the Stirling Community Theatre for the past two weekends, and now heading into its final two performances this weekend, Friday 23 and Saturday 24 September at 8pm.
Director Jethro Pidd and I caught up to discuss this production, what he loves about Shakespeare’s works, and why the Bard’s plays are so enduring.
“The thing that I find interesting about Shakespeare’s text is that a lot of the jokes still stand up today. Specifically looking at the jokes and the humour while we have been putting together The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged), the funniest bits in this show are the bits written by Shakespeare himself. As with any artist today, all the things he wrote about were major events in his lifetime. For example, he wrote one of his most unfamiliar works, Titus Andronicus, when he was a starving artist, which is why there is such an emphasis on food. He also had a very dirty sense of humour that people find just as funny now as they did when it was first performed.”
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) was written in the 1980s by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. It parodies the plays of William Shakespeare, with every one of them being performed in some way, shape or form by the cast. I asked Jethro where he discovered this uniquely written piece of theatre.
“I discovered this show when I was studying to become a drama teacher. We were exploring ways to engage an audience through performance and how to talk to someone who is twelve years old in the audience, but also make a connection with the oldest person in the room. I instantly was hooked on the show; it is such an incredible piece of work. I’ve been desperate to direct it ever since then. It works perfectly for the Stirling Players this year. It’s their fiftieth anniversary this year, and their theme was “world pieces”. You can’t be more worldly than Shakespeare.”
There is nothing serious about this show. Jethro summarises perfectly:
“My brief to the cast, and what I put in the original audition notice, is that the premise of this show is a group of idiots have to stumble through the complete works of William Shakespeare. That is done through physical theatre, through rap, through interpretive dance…it’s done through so many elements. Essentially, combining all these elements of contemporary and traditional theatre, these idiots perform all of Shakespeare’s works…in absolute chaos.”
The cast, all local performers, have created a very special bond during the rehearsal process. The cast features Louie Collins, Grace Colsey, Genevieve Hudson, David Salter, Rory Miller-Frost and Jethro, who had to step in when April Stuart, the remaining cast member, sadly had to withdraw due to illness.
“Working with this cast has really been the highlight of the whole process. We have ended up with the most diverse cast I have ever worked with. There are six in the cast, and each of them has brought something different to the table. We have worked so well together creating that ensemble, and we bring the best out of each other on stage.”
There are only two performances left in this run – Friday 23 September and Saturday 24 September at 8pm at the Stirling Community Theatre, Stirling. Purchased tickets at https://www.stirlingplayers.sct.org.au/ .
Interview by Ben Stefanoff
Read Glam Adelaide’s review of The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged) here.
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