The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)

TB wrote :

“Welcome! I decided to form the Southwick Little Shakespeare Company after being accidentally locked in the Barn Theatre overnight after a production of the Tempest.

As I tried to settle down to sleep on the hard stage floor, I experienced a strange dream. The ghost of Francis Bacon, Elizabethan and Jacobean statesman and philosopher, appeared to me stating he wrote Shakespeare’s plays and had left hidden ciphers in them to prove it. Nah!

Next came Edward Devere, Earl of Oxford, who said he had written the plays. Hold on a minute I cried, you died in 1604 and Shakespeare’s plays continued to be forthcoming for many years after that. Ah! he replied; “I’d already written them and my supporters dished them out after my death.” Nah!

The came Christopher Marlowe saying he had written the plays. He faked his own death in 1593 and moved abroad and wrote them from there. Nah!

It was obvious to me that the son of a glove maker born in a West Midlands market town with only a possible grammar school education had written them! I was going to shout it out to the world (well Sussex anyway).

So here we are. With the help of three bonkers Wick Theatre Company members and three mad American writers …

Our grateful thanks to Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield who formed “The Reduced Shakespeare Company” and created this show: London’s longest running comedy in the West End. They have since created other shows such as ‘The Complete History of America (abridged)’ and ‘The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged)’ and their claim to fame is at one time they had more shows running in London than Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.

This is a roller coaster ride through all of Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies and history pays – performed in a totally different way to anything you have seen before …. a unique night out!

You are invited to go with the flow, join in, and enjoy whatever happens! ”

Dan wrote :

“I was really excited to be asked to join the Southwick Little Shakespeare Company.  Finally I thought, an acting group for people of lesser height.  I might even be one of the tallest in the cast for once!

You can imaging my disappointment when I discovered that Tony was using the word “Little” in a completely different context but luckily I found he had still managed to cast three “normal” sized actors instead of the lanky giants I normally have to act with at the Barn.

He asked if I knew much about Shakespeare?  I confidently replied that they made excellent fishing equipment.  After a quick check on Wikipedia it turns out that Shakespeare wrote plays as well!  (It’s like TikTok but longer and with less dancing).  You can clearly see why I have been cast as the scholar of the group.”

Mark wrote :

“”I was really excited to be asked to join the Southwick Little Shakespeare Company.  Now my big chance to play all those roles I only dreamed of playing.  Then I found out Dan plays Romeo with me as Juliet!  Next came the fact that Jackie plays Hamlet with me as Ophelia!

When I questioned Tony about this he said that many great actresses have played the part over the years and it’s very fashionable at the moment.

At least I get to play Macbeth for about two minute!”

Jackie wrote :

” After listening to Dan talk about Shakespeare for over an hour, I was relieved to learn that this play is not about fishing equipment.  It’s apparently about some old, dead writer who couldn’t decide on a genre. I think. I’m still not sure because I never learned bout him in Texas public school.

Tony once admitted he was hesitant to cast me, as neither Americans nor women existed in Shakespeare’s day.  However, the UK citizenship requirements have become increasingly difficult and being in a Shakespeare play earns you extra tuppence points.

As Shakespeare once said, “Though she be little, she is also loud.”

Needless to say, I’m grateful to be part of the Southwick Little Shakespeare Company.

Show the enjoy you hope! ”