Stout’s fall production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Revised) (Again) was a comedic speed-run adventure through 37 iconic plays. The show featured three narrators who acted as the audience’s guide through the performances.
Joseph Wolf, who sat on the stage reading a comically large book of Shakespeare’s work while the audience was seated, had us hooked immediately. He had impeccable timing with every joke and kept his energy up during his bits throughout the entire production. Reece Halda, our second narrator, had one of my favorite bits from the show —a pretend partnership with the brand T-Mobile, and a sound effect appearing every time she snuck in a brand deal.
Our third narrator was Blake Herrick, whom I was able to interview and learned some behind-the-scenes information from. I had noticed that the show had many relevant jokes or even Stout related jokes. According to Blake, the script writers of the play allowed freedom for the cast to modify the script slightly whenever a joke was outdated. Blake also noted that about 15% of the show was improved or updated by the performers. While this was Blake’s first show at Stout, I hope to see him in others, since his improv additions to the show were great; The timeliest addition being his adjustment of a Keto Diet joke to Ozempic.
The show began with a very quick, but still detailed, performance of Romeo and Juliet which featured some of the first act’s funniest jokes. The most notable (by both myself and the actor for Juliet, Garrett Pals) was creating an unstable, human balcony for the infamous balcony scene, followed by a crude motorboating gag once Juliet had fallen. Romeo and Juliet was the first play featured, and the only play that was given longer than 10 minutes in the first act. All of Shakespeare’s comedies were crammed into one, frankenstein play with notorious parts of each show mentioned throughout. Another awesome aspect of the show was the background bits taking place while the main players said their lines. One of my favorites from act one was a background player wearing a shirt that read “He Came, He Saw, Now Conquer Me” as a fangirl for Julius Ceaser.
Act two was entirely focused on Hamlet, which was ironically very comedic and energetic! Hamlet’s entrance itself was hilarious, as the actress Shelby Sadowski was in full costume as an Elizabethan era prince. She joked, “don’t laugh,” as she appeared timidly on stage. This act also featured around 10-15 minutes of crowd work and audience participation, which was a fun surprise during a tragedy! Blake had a particularly funny moment where he took over the iconic “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy. The show eventually ended “early,” so the players performed Hamlet twice at rapid speed and once again in reverse, leaving the crowd erupting with laughter at the absurdity.
Ophelia was played by Garrett Pals, the same actor as Juliet. I had time to sit down with him to hear about his backstage experience. His performance had caught my attention, especially with the gag of him actually gagging on water to symbolize Ophelia’s drowning in Hamlet. He gave his appreciation and accolades to the whole cast and crew, especially director Audric K. Buhr, for putting in such hard work for an awesome payoff. I couldn’t agree more! While this show had some awesome one-liners or main player jokes, the creativity shown brightest with the bits and improv happening in the background. Blake Herrick even mentioned his favorite rib from the whole show was the three-way chest bump performed by the narrators at the end of the performance.
Overall, the show was very enjoyable, and the dedication from the cast and crew was superb. If you didn’t get a chance to watch this performance, I hope you’re able to watch another production from Stout before the year is over. If you were lucky enough to catch this show, I hope to see you next “Throw Up Thursday.” Unless The Puppet Guy sees you first!
