It may seem an impossible feat, but three actors from Tribal Productions conquered the "towering grandeur that is the complete works of Shakespeare" last Thursday at Meaford Hall with hilarious results.

"This play is so silly that anyone can enjoy it," said set and lighting designer Chris Humphrey the morning of the show, The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged).

This sentiment rang true as the play's humour transcended age entertaining both a student audience in the afternoon performance and a primarily adult audience in the evening; audience members could not help but laugh at the madness of three actors attempting to act out all 37 of Shakespeare's plays in two hours.

The cast featured Sam Owen, David Kynaston and Duff MacDonald who portrayed themselves rather than characters engaging the audience countless times, most memorably in an enactment of Ophelia's psyche in one scene of Hamlet. The talent of these three actors could not be denied as they switched roles and improvised with one another effortlessly.

All of the plays were condensed for the sake of humour and many were performed in unconventional ways. They presented Othello as a rap song, Titus Andronicus as a cooking show, and condensed all of Shakespeare's comedies into to one frenzied reading, arguing that all 17 followed the same formula anyway.

Perhaps the funniest of the reenactments was Macbeth, which was performed entirely in exaggerated Scottish accents.

The second half of the play was dedicated entirely to Shakespeare's greatest work, Hamlet, which was performed three times at increasing speeds and a fourth time backwards.

Overall, The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) proved to be a phenomenal night of entertainment in our community. As one actor stated in the beginning of the play, many directors and producers have attempted "to make these musty old plays more accessible and relevant to modern audiences" and no representation of Shakespeare's work does it in such a brilliant or unique fashion as this one.