Complete Works : Table Top Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s complete works re-told with relish (marmalade, dishsoap and other bits and bobs).

Sometimes the classics need a bit of a shake-up. In Complete Works, six performers condense all of Shakespeare’s plays — retelling a new one each night around the kitchen table using everyday objects. A vase for the prince. A jar for Juliet. A bottle of Dettol for the nurse. Salt and pepper for the king and queen. It’s the immortal storytelling of The Bard, stripped and seasoned to perfection.

The team from Forced Entertainment know the resilience of these stories lies in their ability to be re-imagined — that the meanings can twist in the telling and the plays were originally written to entertain the masses. So, light on Elizabethan poetry, the shows feel more like a friend has sat you down to prove why the works are such cracking yarns, using only lo-fi puppetry. Each performer has a different take on the action. But every version twists the bottle and releases the essence of Bill’s vision.