More jackassery from Jobsite: ‘Complete Works’ is back

To bridge the gap between regularly-scheduled seasons, Jobsite Theater is revisiting an old favorite, wacky, zany, screwball and even, yes, madcap. It’s not the first or second (or even third) time the company has done this show in its 25-year history, but since it’s always been an audience favorite, why not?

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again] opens tonight in the Shimberg Playhouse, where it will remain for two weeks.

This fast-paced, highly physical comedy by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield was first performed by Jobsite in 2001. In those days, the words “revised” and “again” were not part of the title.

However, “abridged” has been there since the get-go. That word sets up the plot, in which three actors – they might as well be Moe, Larry and Curly – announce their intention to perform all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays.

“But they only have the theater for an hour and a half, so they’re just going to do them real quick, and try to get through all of them,” explains Katrina Stevenson, the Jobsite production’s director.

Therefore, all the Bard’s comedies are distilled into one short sketch; the historical plays are performed as a football game. “And you get a lot of the reasons why,” Stevenson says. “Like in Othello, what moor means. And why all the comedies are essentially kind of the same. All the source material that he draws from.

“So there are those bits of cool factual history thrown in. And then there’s general jackassery.”

Spencer Meyers, Shawn Peonessa and Jobsite artistic director David M. Jenkins portray the actors, whose names in this production are Spencer, Shawn and David.

They’ve all done Complete Works with the company before, although Jenkins is the only one who’s been in it every time.

Stevenson, who has a 24-year history with Jobsite as actor, costume designer and artistic associate, believes this farcical farce has endured “because it is just good, stupid fun. But it’s got the anchor of something that is traditionally on a pedestal. It’s SHAKESPEARE, and you’re not supposed to touch it, right?

“At Jobsite, we do our own takes on Shakespeare, and people love that. But this one is great because if you know Shakespeare even a little bit – like you just know the biggies, and you see what these three guys do to them … it’s such a wild ride for the audience.”

The three directly address and perform for the audience. “It just feels very live and immediate,” says Stevenson. “To the audience, it feels mostly unscripted. It feels made up on the cuff. But obviously it’s not.”

Putting this show on its feet is very much a team effort. Since Meyers, Peonessa and Jenkins are well-schooled Complete Works veterans, Stevenson is charged with banishing complacency from the room.

The question during rehearsals, she reports, is  “How do we make it fresh and new, like we’re doing it for the first time? That’s when it feels the best – when it seems like everything that’s going wrong is like it’s never gone wrong before.”

At any rate, “I don’t even consider myself the director. I’m more of a wrangler/coach for these guys. It’s like, when they get out of bounds I blow the whistle.”

Stevenson looks toward a (maybe not-so-distant) future where the three Shakespearean stooges can be played by women.

“The playwrights have evolved their script over the years to make it gender-inclusive,” she says.

“They also cleaned some of it up for a younger audience – we weren’t really down for that, so it’s still very juvenile.”

For showtimes and tickets, visit the Jobsite website.