The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged brought to Concordia stage

Three men, one stage and every play ever written by William Shakespeare -- that was what audiences saw when they attended The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged at Concordia March 25-27.

Producing the show, originally written and performed by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, was the idea of Concordia seniors Nathaniel Bellin, Racine, Wis., and Jacob Wagner, Paullina, Iowa.

“Jacob and I love this play and have been wanting to do it since our freshman year,” said Bellin. “With us both being seniors and the success of other student-led productions, we finally decided to move forward with it while we still had a chance.”

The show is different from other Concordia theater productions according to Wagner. “It’s a scripted play but it has many different parts that have improv aspects,” said Wagner. “It’s done by just three guys who go through all of Shakespeare’s plays, and there is audience participation.”

The third member of the show was junior Henning Peterson from Parker, Colo., who felt audiences related well to this adapted Shakespeare.  “The show was a wonderfully humorous, contemporary take on the Shakespeare genre,” he commented. “It considers his plays from a very plain perspective as far as language is concerned. It’s full of pop culture references and blunt humor.”