The Complete Works of William Shakespere (abridged)

The New 42nd Street Presents the Reduced Shakespeare Company's The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) from 5 - 14 Mar 2010 at the New Victory Theater.

One of London's longest running comedies, this production of The Complete Works... is an updated, 21st century version of the 90s cult classic. The Complete Works... played for nine years at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus and achieved cult status.

The Complete Works... features three players (RSC veterans Reed Martin, Matt Rippy and Austin Tichenor) who take audiences through raucous, fast-paced parodies of Shakespeare's 37 plays in 100 minutes or less. This irreverent romp through The Bard's canon begins with a send-up of Romeo and Juliet, followed by a Titus Andronicus cooking show, and along the way, a rap version of Othello (Othello raps that he left Desdemona "all alone-a, didn't telephone-a." ), and a one-minute version of Hamlet.

Since its 1981 origins as a pass-the-hat act in California, the Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) has created six stage shows, several TV programs, and numerous radio pieces - all of which have been performed, seen, and heard the world over. Nominated for an Olivier Award in London and two Helen Hayes Awards in Washington, DC., the company's itinerary has included stops at the White House, Lincoln Center, London's West End, The Kennedy Center, Seattle Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre and Montreal's Just For Laughs Festival, as well as performances in Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Malta, Belgium, The Netherlands, Singapore and Bermuda - plus countless civic and university venues throughout the USA, Great Britain and Ireland.

The company's first three shows, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), 'The Complete History of America (abridged)' and 'The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged),' ran for nine years at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus as London's longest-running comedies.

Shakespeare (abridged) aired on PBS and is available on DVD, as is America (abridged). Numerous other TV appearances include NBC's "Today Show," "CBS Sunday Morning," "Entertainment Tonight," CNN's "Showbiz This Week," and New Zealand's "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune" (they lost). For National Public Radio, the RSC has been heard on "All Things Considered," "Weekend Edition," "Talk of the Nation," "Day to Day," "West Coast Live," and "To The Best of Our Knowledge." The BBC World Service commissioned the six-part "Reduced Shakespeare Radio Show." "The Reduced Shakespeare Company Christmas" was heard on Public Radio International. RSC scripts are published in the US and UK, and translated into over a dozen languages.