Parody play brings Shakespeare to Central High School

“The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” isn’t a typical Shakespearean play.

True, several of the actors are in tights and puffy pants, and familiar names such as Ophelia and Hamlet, Henry VI and Macbeth crop up. But at its heart, this show is a parody of Shakespeare’s works, with improvisation and audience participation in a high-energy production.

Uriel Achilleus, a senior at Cape Girardeau Central High School, said everyone in the show plays several roles.

“There’s not really a lead,” he said.

Achilleus plays Hamlet, Henry VI, Antony from “Antony and Cleopatra” and other roles.

Students perform a skit of "Romeo and Juliet" during rehearsal Wednesday of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)" at the Richard D. Kinder Performance Hall at Cape Girardeau Central High School.Andrew J. Whitaker

Because the show originally was written for three men, but eight performers are cast in this production, the lines were dispersed among the actors equally, Achilleus said.

“I think the biggest challenge is we do ‘Hamlet’ backward,” he said.

Learning the lines was the tricky part, Achilleus said, though he’s acted in Shakespeare productions before, with the St. Louis Shakespeare festival.

“It does throw me off sometimes,” he said. “Lots of twists and changes. It’s really, really funny.”

Senior Brooke Kimberly plays the nurse from “Romeo and Juliet,” Ophelia from “Hamlet” and a cheerleader in the section of the play devoted to Shakespeare’s history plays.

She said she’s acted since middle school, and while being in this show is a lot of fun, it is a challenge, “especially with the poofy pants on.”

Among her many roles, senior Lydia Gentry plays a friar, Polonius from “Hamlet,” and she’s in “the Scottish play.”

“I play him,” she said, observing the tradition — or superstition — of not saying the name “Macbeth” while in a theater.

“I feel like we’ll do great,” Gentry said, adding she has “too many favorite things” about the show.

Second only to the acting are the props, in the production, said assistant properties manager AJ Cook.

“There are so many props in this show,” she said, gesturing to tables crowded with a skull, wigs, cups, fake weapons and other items.

“We made a tome out of three big textbooks,” Cook said, adding they were going for over-the-top, gesturing to the book’s cover, which reads “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare” in yellow script.

“There’s also a head baked into a pie,” Cook said. “It’s ridiculous.”

The props are mapped out on the tables, Cook said, and she said she was surprised at how much planning it takes to keep all the props at hand for the right actor at the right moment.

For director Belle De La Cruz, who teaches theater and language arts at Central High School, this show was a good idea to achieve the goal she had in mind for her cast.

“We wanted to do Shakespeare, but something different with it,” she said.

“The Taming of the Shrew” was on the table at one point, but that requires several male actors, and she said she didn’t have a lot of male actors to work with. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was another thought, but Southeast Missouri State University produced that show last semester, so that was out, too.

But this show is so heavy on improvisation and comedy, it’s good for a first show, De La Cruz said.

“If it’s messy, it’s fine,” she said.

Many of the actors are new, she said, and crew members are new or learning to do new things.

“The kids hadn’t really had a chance to play with improv,” De La Cruz said. “And I wanted them to put themselves into the show. They’d do something funny in rehearsal, and I’d say, ‘I like that, keep that.’ They’ve been great to work with.”

De La Cruz said, in lieu of the general-admission ticket price, people can choose to donate three or four items to the school’s supply closet, including dry goods such as granola bars, small bags of chips, macaroni and cheese, ramen noodles, fruit snacks, canned lunches or backpacks or tote bags.

Tickets are $5 for students with ID and $7 for general admission at the door.

Show times are 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with a sensory-friendly performance at 2 p.m. Saturday, at Kinder Performance Hall, Central High School, 1000 S. Silver Springs Road in Cape Girardeau.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

1000 S. Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, Mo.