Behold: The complete works of Shakespeare - in two hours

SUGAR LOAF — Kings Theatre Company will present The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) on Friday, September 30 at 8 p.m. at the Lycian Centre for the Performing Arts in Sugar Loaf. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is a whirlwind roller coaster tribute to the immortal bard. Three actors take on the daunting task of performing 37 plays and 154 sonnets in under two hours, illuminating the world of Shakespeare through the use of football, swordplay and hip-hop music. Irreverent and hilarious, this comedy includes everything from puns and pratfalls to elaborate sight gags. All sixteen comedies are condensed into one story containing a shipwreck, an influential duke, and his three sets of identical twins. The tragedies become the Shakespeare Football League, subtitled "Who's Got the Crown?" For Othello, they turn to rap; Titus Andronicus is reduced to a cooking show; and Hamlet, despite protestations by the cast that there are "too many words," is done not only forwards, but backwards as well. Written in 1987 by the original founders of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, Daniel Singer, Jess Winfield and Adam Long, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) underwent many years of metamorphosis before its formal publishing in the United States in 1996. It was a smash hit Off-Broadway as well as the longest running comedy in London. Tickets are $28 for adults and $21 for youth (18 years and younger) and can be purchased by phone. 845-469-2287.