The Cmplt Wrks of Shkspr

(double abridged version)

Directors Note :

William Shakespeare’s work, his words, have always been a part of my life. Until I moved out & got to college, I was no longer surrounded by actors or peolple who saw his work the way I did. It was then I realized how fortunate I was that all my teachers whose responsibility was to introduce & explore Shakespeare work did it with such a burning passion & inspiration. I found when I would refer to a Shakespeare quote in conversation or use it as an argument in class, my peers were lost and disengaged. They share with me that they found it boring in English class or had trouble understanding his text. It really struck a chord with me. This incredible poetry that gave me a healthy outlet for expression & changed my perspectives was foreign, boring & intimidating to a much larger population than I ever realized. 

After multiple of these encounters, I felt inspired to share Shakespeare’s work in a different light. In a way for his work to be seen by the students of my generation. When offered the opportunity to direct for class, I knew doing a full Shakespeare play may not be as successful due to the closed mindedness & fear towards his work. When I stumbled across a trouble of 3 men on Youtube engaging & playing with the audience as they went through to produce their own version of all of Shakespeare’s complete works. It was hilarious & inviting.

When I read through the original script I found some of the humour had not survived beyond the 90s when it was originally written, so I updated it. Although I didn’t have the casting flexibility for 3 men, I did have the opportunity to have a cast of 4 women & one man. This casting gave me the opportunity to show case a social commentary on the lack of women’s roles by having all the women play men’s roles & our lovely gentlemen play all the female roles. I was also only given a one our time slot for the production. Giving my stage manager & myself the work of creating The “double abridged version” that was played as a final presentation at UTM College. Each individual had little to no experience with the classic text; every actor approached this new endeavour with an open mind and an eager attitude. It was surreal teaching such versatile actors and watching this vision come to life on stage.