Think Shakespeare is stuffy and serious? Think again, as The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) entertains at York Theatre Royal this week.
A new version of the West End classic, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) from the Reduced Shakespeare Company has been rebooted and reimagined for 2026 to bring this classic comic masterpiece to a new generation of audiences.
And what a treat for this audience it was.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) began as a street theatre troupe in San Francisco Bay in the 1980s, and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1987, at 10am in a church basement.
It’s come a long way since then, from several world tours to a nine-year stint in the West End, and now the 2026 production has landed in York.
The show is presented by The Theatre Chipping Norton and Selladoor Worldwide and written by Adam Long (who also directs), Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield.
For the opening night at York Theatre Royal, the audience were treated to a trifecta of terrific performances from Woogie Jung, Tom Pavey, and understudy Kiran Raywilliams.
To perform all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays – and not forgetting 154 sonnets – in just over 90 minutes is no easy feat, but the Reduced Shakespeare Company take on the challenge at breakneck speed and in increasingly entertaining ways.
The show rattles through the Bard’s well known, and lesser known, plays with the help of physical gags, musical instruments, puppets, a Cooking Show segment, and…dinosaurs.
The success of this show relies on the strength on the central performances, and nothing about these three performers is reduced. The chemistry between the three actors on stage is flawless, and balanced with charming and endearing Jung, chaotic and dramatic Pavey, and committed and commanding Raywilliams.
The stripped back set (Liz Cooke) – that apparently “came from a skip” – combined with the vibrant lighting design (Alexandra Stafford) allows the performances to be showcased at their physical peak. Props, and sometimes people, fly across the stage with impressive control and timing.
The amount of audience participation was also an unexpected delight – and made for some fantastically funny off-the-cuff reactions, as the whole audience transformed into the subconscious of Ophelia.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is extremely silly, tongue-in-cheek, and chaotically fun – but it never loses sight of its source material. One of Shakespeare’s monologues is delivered with such serious intensity that it brings the auditorium to pin-drop silence; but isn’t that the true spirit of Shakespeare, to traverse so easily between comedy and tragedy?
It certainly nails the endurance of Shakespeare. The humour on display here will appeal to everyone, Shakespeare enthusiast and skeptic alike, and the accessibility into the Bard’s masterpieces is one I hope will encourage anyone who has struggled with Shakespeare to see it in a new light.
A joy to watch from start to end, this is Shakespearian theatre at its escapist finest.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is at York Theatre Royal until Saturday 11 July. Tickets start from £15 and are available here.
