Rating:  Summary: Funnier Than Shakespeare Review: Some literatti may take umbrage at my comparing myself favorably to the Immortal Bard, but hey, he's dead, and
I'm still making people laugh every day. My friends particularly like my Arnold Palmer joke, my impression of William Shatner (the Bard's Shatner impression was reputedly very weak, incidentally), and this book, in which I edit, footnote, and illustrate the smash hit play of the same name.All thirty-seven of the Bard's works, plus the sonnets, in under two hours! Startle your co-workers! Impress your friends! Seduce the lover of your dreams by telling him, her, or it that you read "The Complete Works" in an afternoon! I and my co-authors, Daniel Singer and Adam Long, urge you, nay BEG you, to buy this book!
Rating:  Summary: They wouldn't let me give it 6 stars! Review: A marvelous, idiotic work of sophomoric (or possibly even freshmanic) genius. A combination of an inside-and-out understanding of every nuance of Shakespeare that would abash a Yale professor, with the anarchic sensibility of all the best moments of "Duck Soup". If you ever get the chance to see them perform this, see it at any cost; otherwise, buy the book and treasure it. If you buy it and read it and it seems hopelessly dumb, get together with some friends and read it aloud and watch how it springs to savage gleeful life.
Rating:  Summary: Almost as Funny as Monty Python! Review: Absitively poselutely hilarious. To read or not to read. That is the question. The answer? To read! Although a few parts are just stupid, the rest of the book is funny. There are hilarious footnotes to the text and such funny content as: "The Othello Rap", "The Love Boat Goes to Verona", and "The Titus Andronicus Cooking Show" among others. I give you one word: Read!
Rating:  Summary: Over the top! A wickedly wonderful read. Review: Actually, I haven't read the latest incarnation (since it's not yet published) but saw the play in London two weeks ago. It is still hysterical (this was my second viewing) and very timely; a comment about Lewinsky's dress brought the house down. Even the usually reserved British audience loved the show. It is definitely worth a read! I purchased a previous edition but can't wait to receive the 1999 update.
Rating:  Summary: Fantastic, well paced, well written show. Review: After playing Jess in Compleat Works, I can think of no way to top the experience. The work is fast paced, hysterically funny, and gives plenty of room for humiliating friends, family, and enemies who come to see it. May the Bard always be with the RSC for creating this wonderful work
Rating:  Summary: A modern day masterpiece!! Review: As a high school speech coach, I am always looking for new, fresh material. "Complete Works..." is it! I've seen the play in London and some of their other works and I've loved every minute. While not on the same level of Tom Stoppard, the writing of this play gives you such an appreciation of the Bard's work that it should not be missed. I just wish the four other plays by these modern day thespians would be published soon!!
Rating:  Summary: One of the funniest plays EVER! Review: As an actor, having just completed a 3 week run of this performance piece, may I say that it is one of, if not the funniest play I have ever done or read. Audiences were howling and leaving with their faces in pain from laughter. Now, to the published version... Although the performance piece is hysterical in itself, the published version has the benefit of footnotes. These footnotes are equally hysterical, and we wished we could somehow include them in the performance. It is a whirlwind tour of the Bard's works complete with silly wigs, vomiting and Godzilla. If you're a fan of Bill S., you'll love it. If you're NOT a fan of Bill S., you'll love it. Finally, ponder this... Hamlet in 47 seconds, and backwards... ;) Need I say more
Rating:  Summary: Good at least once Review: Comedy routine or inspired lunacy--whatever it is, this is the complete script of it, including the shortest "Hamlet" ever performed (and then done backwards for an encore), and "Titus Andronicus" as a cooking show. There's lots of fun between these covers for both the bardolator and the bard-hater, including a strange collection of annotations by a not-quite-so learned professor. Although some bits don't play as well on the page, it's not that long and at least you don't have to suffer through some inane laugh track.
Rating:  Summary: Oh, That the Bard Himself Had Writ This Masterpiece... Review: Dan, Jess, and Adam, my hat is off to you. You fabulous masters of comedy have produced an unparelled and incredible exploration into the absurdity and undeniably silly inner nature of some of Shakespeare's greatest works.
Marvy, my dear friends. Marvy.
And to those of you unfortunate enough to have never seen or read this particular work of genius, get out the old credit card right now. Now. Do it.
Rating:  Summary: A masterpiece of comedy Review: For anyone seeking complete exposure to the works of Shakespeare, there can be only one source of material, and the Reduced Shakespeare Company is not that source. For anyone seeking to laugh until it hurts, the Reduced Shakespeare Company is _precisely_ the ticket. Condensing all of Shakespeare (including the sonnets) to about 150 pages may seem an impossible task, but the authors succeed admirably, though one might question some of the scholarship along the way. Still, dispensing of "King Lear" in only a few lines during the course of a football game is a daunting task, and picking fault with the authors for failing to mention that he had three daughters seems to be nit-picking. And it's not as if the authors fail to dispell some of the myths that have permeated Shakespearean scholarship. As they aptly demonstrate, Othello was not "a place where you tie up boats." The book is really a script for the RSC show, and while the show loses some of its hilarity in the book, the latter compensates by including all sorts of wonderfully funny footnotes. If you can't get out to see the "Compleat Works" live, do the next best thing and buy the book. Where else will you have the opportunity to read "Othello" as a rap song?
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