Theatre Fairfield’s most recent production may sound like a flashback to your high school English class–the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It may sound like a boring play but it actually pokes fun at Shakespeare’s work.
I know what you must be thinking. More Shakespeare? That’s boring. Well, I may be biased, because I grew up in a Shakespeare loving house, but this play is nothing like popcorn reading while you stumble over Elizabethan English.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again] is a play within a play of sorts, and I don’t know if that’s intentionally a callback to Hamlet, but that would be funny. The play is about the cast trying to put on the complete works of Shakespeare in 97 minutes because an adult puppeteer is coming on after them, so they’re short on time.
All of the actors play themselves–Courtney Sabogal ’26, Angelo Corsini ’25, Alyssa Suarez ’25, Samantha Learson ’26, and Katie Cash ’28. While they play themselves, each actor has a different role within the play.
Corsini plays a “Shakespeare Scholar” who is later revealed to have no idea what he’s talking about, though that’s a bit obvious based on how they interpreted each play. Both Learson and Suarez play regular actors, and Cash plays a crew member who repeatedly tries to jump in with the cast and is immediately shut down.
Cash, a freshman, is a newcomer to TF, but she also stood out to me throughout the show. While her character didn’t have as many lines as the others, her ability to stand in place and act with her facial expressions spoke volumes to her character’s frustrations with being ordered around. I’m excited to see more of her in future TF productions!
Sabogal, though I’m not sure if this was intentional, takes on the “head actor” role of sorts. She opens up the show to discuss Shakespeare and periodically shouts at “crew member” Cash to stop talking.
While all of the actors were amazing, I thought that Sabogal really stood out in this show. Her comedic timing was hilarious, especially when she was playing a Johnny Bravo-esq Romeo. She completely embodied every character she was playing and embraced the stupid jokes such as when Romeo says, “But, love” and Juliet says “Butt love?” I was afraid that the jokes would be cheesy, and they were, but the acting felt so real that I laughed along every time with the audience.
Typically, the plays that are put on by TF have a more serious nature, which is okay, but this was a nice change of pace. I’ve seen pretty much all of their productions, and I have to say, this may be one of my favorites!