Call them what you will: Abridged, reduced, truncated, condensed. I like to eschew euphamism and just call them “butchered.” I’m speaking of the shortening of great works of art to enhance their appeal among mass audiences, a scourge that has plagued literature from the very beginning – one that festers through every anti-intellectual initiative from Cliff’s Notes to Reader’s Digest Condensed Books.
Unless, of course, the subject is the Reduced Shakespeare Company, the theatrical group that has elevated abridgement to its own art form. Launching with its 20-minute reduction of “Hamlet” in 1981 and achieving its first full-length success with the hour-long “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” in 1987, the troupe has since penned fast, furious and witty condensements of the Bible, American history, world literature and sports, to name a few subjects.
Though demanding on actors, these manic productions are popular among both professional and nonprofessional playhouses, and theatergoers in South Florida will have twice the opportunity to experience the Reduced Shakespeare Company this coming month. On Friday, the Lake Worth Playhouse opens its mounting of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” updated, as the play usually is, with modern pop-culture references. A week later, Plantation’s Mosaic Theatre will open its production of the group’s latest shortened epic, “Completely Hollywood (Abridged).”
Lest the group begin to run out of ideas, here are a few subjects I’d like to see the Reduced Shakespeare Company tackle:
“The Complete Popular Music (Abridged)”
From Elvis to the Beatles to Springsteen to Michael Jackson to Lady Gaga. I’m fairly surprised they haven’t gone this route yet.
“The Complete American Presidency (Abridged)”
Some of this was no doubt covered in “The Complete History of America (Abridged),” but this time, they’d be able to shed some light on some of our fun but lesser acknowledged leaders, from Grover Cleveland to William Howard Taft to James K. Polk.
“The Complete World of Science (Abridged)”
The groundbreaking ideas and scientific advancements of Einstein, Marie Curie, Stephen Hawking and others, in a crazily comic package. Just remember that if you walk away from a show like this learning anything, the makers have probably done something wrong. Nevertheless, geeks would flock to this in droves.
“The Complete Ingmar Bergman (Abridged)”
Even more challenging than reducing Shakespeare, this spirited romp through 60 challenging, depressing movies about godless Swedes would provide the most daunting test of the group’s ability to find humor in the humorless. These other three are possible, but this one will only happen in my dreams.
