Steel Beam, Janus join forces for slapstick Shakespeare show

The Janus Theatre of Elgin and The Steel Beam of St. Charles are collaborating for the first time to present “The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)” by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield.

The production started its run in St. Charles and will move to Elgin's Janus Theatre this weekend.

“I'm thrilled to have them come out because they're in our space, which is different from their space. It'll be a very intimate show,” said producer Sean Hargadon of Janus Theatre.

Shows are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4-6, at the Elgin Art Showcase. Tickets are $16.

“The Complete Works of Shakespeare” is a fast-paced, comical show that compresses all of the Bard's work into an approximately 97-minute production.

“It's really fun and comedic piece on Shakespeare, a little bit on his life, but it's high physical comedy,” said Hargadon, an Elgin resident.

“I've never had a play go over to another theater, but, it's exciting,” said director Jesse Hicks of Batavia.

The St. Charles production was a four-member cast until Julie Bayer of Batavia seemingly took the phrase “break a leg” literally on the show's last performance in St. Charles. “As we were ending the last show at Steel Beam, (Bayer) broke her foot on the stage,” Hicks said. Bayer finished the show without telling anyone.

The injury caused some juggling of the roles before the Janus opening.

“It's a slightly different show from (the one at) Steel Beam because it's a three-actor show now,” said Hicks.

As a result, Heide Swarthout of Oswego, Jennifer Reeves Wilson and Lori Holm, both of Batavia, will round out the cast.

Audience members may be surprised to find that the cast is all female, but neither Hargadon nor Hicks, who originally cast the show, considers it shocking.

“As weird as it sounds, I don't know if I was trying for an all-female cast. It ended up that the people that I wanted to work with happened to be females,” Hicks said. “They were hilarious and perfect for the roles. That's the way it worked out.”

“It's all about story telling and acting,” Hargadon added. “If they're good actors and they're doing a good job, it's going to work at the end of the day, on every show, whether it's a big show a little show, lots of sets and costumes; it's me and you in a room together, if you do your job right, everything we'll do fine.”

Holm feels a different dynamic as a result of the all-female cast, or maybe because the others are longtime friends.

“This show's primarily played by three men so it's exciting for us to have a full cast of women and it's also exciting because we're a tight-knit group, we're friends for years,” Holm said. “So there's a level of trust already in place when we began. I think that has been a key element for us. We were able to begin rehearsals with open-mindedness and a sense of play.

Even with a cast of friends, Holm discovered that the show is a lot to take on.

“This is the toughest show, both mentally and physically that I've ever undertaken,” Holm said. “The entire production is incredibly comedic, slapstick, fast paced. The three of us on stage are constantly changing characters, changing costumes, and changing wigs. It's just raucous fun.”

“It's a fun piece for people who want to see comedy. If you're interested in Shakespeare, they do a great job of putting it together, it's very inventive,” added Hargadon.

“There are a lot of little inside jokes that you'll get if you're familiar with ‘Hamlet' or ‘Romeo and Juliet,'” Hicks said.

With that said, there are always those who feel intimidated and/or uninterested in anything Shakespeare related. But those that are uninitiated should also enjoy the romp, according to Hargadon.

“It's for people who don't get Shakespeare,” he said. “If you get Shakespeare you'll get a lot of laughs at how they interpreted it. If you don't get Shakespeare, it's a great introduction.”

“It's made of all vignettes,” Hicks added. “So many people worry about Shakespeare, that they're gong to sit down and see this three-hour production, but it's really quick.”

The show was developed as a showcase for students, middle school aged through college, to get to know the Bard, according to Holm.

“We're using comedy as to point out that there is more to Shakespeare than that which intimidates people,” she said. There's bawdiness to it. There's envy, just downright silly things that happen to the characters that we touch on that in all of that.”

Audiences have responded positively to the show at Steel Beam, Holm said.

“The youngest person we had attend was a middle-schooler,” she said. “He grabbed me after the show and said ‘This is the best thing I've ever seen. If I could come and see it every night if I could.' He came with his grandmother. So there are two generations right there, who walked away after enjoying it.”

“The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)”

<b>What:</b> Steel Beam Theatre and Janus Theatre join forces for the show

<b>When:</b> 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4-6

<b>Where:</b> Elgin Art Showcase, on the 8th floor of the Professional Building at 164 Division St., Elgin.

<b>Tickets:</b> $16; visit <a href="https://cwws.eventbrite.com">cwws.eventbrite.com</a>