Having seen this play done by a local theater company, I immediately fell in love with it, and when the chance came for me to put on a production of the complete works, I jumped on it. This is a great script that is very accessible for actors, with detailed stage descriptions that are great starting off points for original and dynamic blocking. The directions maintain the level of comedy with slipped in jokes including my favorite at the very end (you'll have to buy it to find out what it is), but this work of genius should not go unread by anyone, whether you are a Shakespeare buff or not. One note, there have been some changes in the script since this publication, but these can be seen in the non-actor's edition and the various Youtube videos of the play.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare is an ingenious play. It is spontaneous and hilarious! If you're into Shakespeare, you'll love it. If you don't care for him because he was the reason you failed high school English, you'll still love this play!

I have seen productions of this play several times and each time it's hilarious! Now reading it I realize what geniuses the Reduced Shakespeare Company are - especially the writers Jess Borgenson, Daniel Singer and Adam Long! The book is worth it's price just for the footnotes. Their clever, witty, and yes - bawdy (Shakespeare would have been proud!) humor is priceless!

I am a high school drama teacher, and we bought copies of the Compleat Works of William Shakespeare Abridged for classroom use. They have been delightful to use, and perfectly correllating with the Reduced Shakespeare Company DVD that we have enjoyed in the past. The best part of all is how the kids retain the recognition of lines and scenes, even when we are viewing or reading other versions of his works. They love getting in front of the class and working up these zany parodies of the classics. I rate it 5 out of 5!!

Absolutely Hilarious! I would love to go see this play, however the book has annotations that are priceless, so you won't want to miss this either. You won't be able to put this down.