Redux Shakespeare Launches Unabridged Tour

The Reduced Shakespeare Company is embarking on an extensive UK tour with its record-breaking cult comedy The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). The tour, which kicks off 24 November in Chichester and continues to 31 July 1999, has already confirmed engagements in more than 75 towns across the country.

The alternative RSC was originally formed in California in 1981 where its members performed Hamlet to anyone who passed by on the streets of San Francisco. The British base for the company is at the West End's Criterion Theatre where The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) and The Complete History of America (abridged), performed in repertory, are now entering their fourth sell-out year. The former is now the West End's longest running comedy.

In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), the three-strong cast whizz through all 37 of the bard's works in just 97 minutes - all 16 comedies are distilled into just one short extract, while the history plays are performed as a ball game.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company last toured the country with its production of The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged), which also ran in the West End. Their signature irreverent approach, when applied to the biblical material, provoked accusations of blasphemy in some quarters.

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