The Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) is an American touring acting troupe that performs fast-paced, seemingly improvisational condensations of different topics. The company’s style has been described as “New Vaudeville,” combining both physical and verbal humour, as well as highbrow and lowbrow. The company was founded in 1981 by Daniel Singer, who wrote a 25-minute, four-actor version of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, to be performed at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Novato, California. He cast himself as Polonius, Horatio, and Laertes; Jess Winfield as the prince; Michael Fleming as Bernardo, Claudius, and the Ghost of Hamlet’s father; and Barbara Reinertson as Ophelia and Gertrude. When Reinertson broke her ankle three weeks into the run, Winfield suggested that school chum Adam Long fill in for her in drag.
Winfield rejoined the troupe in 1985, and so Singer’s version of Hamlet was resurrected into the repertoire. Several actors had come and gone in the roles of Bernardo, the Ghost, and Claudius; the last in the series excused himself when his daughter was born. The three-man RSC was born at that time, with Long taking over those roles. In 1987, a friend of the company suggested that they’d find a welcome reception at the famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The ideal show length being about an hour, they decided they needed about 20 more minutes of material, and proposed doing Shakespeare’s other 35 plays to round out an abridgement of everything the bard wrote in less than one hour. Sa Thomson (now Sa Winfield), brought on to design and fabricate the troupe’s quick-change props and costumes, became a full partner in 1988.
The Complete Works script that resulted from these collaborations successfully premiered in an open-framed barn at the Paramount Ranch in Agoura, adjacent to the site of the Southern California Renaissance Faire. It then moved to Edinburgh proper, being performed in a church basement at 10:30 a.m. for a three-week run to generally sold-out houses. After that, the show (expanded to 97 minutes) toured theatres and festivals around the world. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) ran for nine years at the Criterion Theatre, London West End.
The Complete Works script that resulted from these collaborations successfully premiered in an open-framed barn at the Paramount Ranch in Agoura, adjacent to the site of the Southern California Renaissance Faire. It then moved to Edinburgh proper, being performed in a church basement at 10:30 a.m. for a three-week run to generally sold-out houses. After that, the show (expanded to 97 minutes) toured theatres and festivals around the world. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) ran for nine years at the Criterion Theatre, London West End.
Singer left the Company in 1989 and was replaced by Reed Martin; Borgeson left in 1992 and was replaced by Austin Tichenor. In 1993 Long, Martin and Tichenor wrote the company’s second play, The Complete History of America (abridged). They followed this up with The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) in 1995.
