all photos by Tom Massey

Brush up your Shakespeare,
With the broadest of brush strokes,
Discard your fear of Shakespeare,
With a play of puns and jokes.

Austin Tichenor and Reed Martin
Authors of Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
Have penned another pastiche to hearten:
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S LONG LOST FIRST PLAY (ABRIDGED).

Directed with flair by Tom Massey
The play features two blokes and a lassie
Condensing the Bard
And his 39 play card
To a single purpose built chassis.

The conceit of this feat is a daft one
Passing it off as a draft one
Of Shakespeare’s entire canon
In just one play spannin,
Histories, tragedies and the fun ones.

The crux of the plot as it stands
As one text pulls multiple strands
Has Puck and Ariel,
Shakespeare’s two ethereals,
In contest for Best Fairy garlands.

Puck, that shrewd and knavish sprite
Revels in devilish delight
As she pits wits
And totally gives the shits
To Ariel all through the night.

A mixture of Shakespeare and Disney,
With Thisbe and Pyramus playing Frisbee
Thrill to Will’s quill,
The actors’ slick skill
And try to follow the plot without getting dizzy.

Here, hear, the gangs all here,
From monarchs to those that carry spear,
Weird sisters, estranged sons,
Something wicked this way comes
Macbeth, and Hamlet and cranky old King Lear

The cast are fast with their feet and diction
A love of the Bard their obvious predilection
Casey Martin gives Puck pleasant pluck
Riley Lewis gives bang for your buck
And Paris Change gives delirious depiction.

A bawdy Bardisation,
A silly Willy realisation
If these shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
In these times unprecedented
Lots of laughs are what is needed.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S LONG LOST FIRST PLAY (ABRIDGED plays till day before Valentine’s Day Friday and Saturday nights at 7.30pm and Sunday matinées at 4.30pm at The Genesian Theatre Company 420 Kent Street, Sydney

Running Time: 90 mins including a 15 min interval