37 Shakespeare plays in 97 minutes! Blink and you’ll miss this fast-paced show
The Reduced Shakespeare Company is currently touring the UK. Image credit Karl Andre
It is sometimes said that attention spans are shorter these days, yet one theatre group is determined to show that Shakespeare can still hold sway in the internet age – by performing 37 of the Bard’s plays in 97 minutes.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company is bringing its Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama on 12 November. But how do they condense some of the English language’s greatest literary works into such a short time?
“We cut out all the boring bits and get right to the sex and the violence”, explains Gary Fannin of the American troupe. “Julius Caesar is done and buried in about 60 seconds. Hamlet on the other hand takes all of the second act to cover.”
