A newly rebooted and reimagined production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is set to take centre stage at Chipping Norton Theatre from 24 to 28 February, as part of a major 30-venue UK tour in 2026.
Presented by The Theatre Chipping Norton and Selladoor Worldwide, the show marks the return of the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s globally celebrated comic whirlwind through all 37 of the Bard’s plays.
The much-loved West End hit, known for its irreverent humour and breakneck pace, has been updated for a new generation while retaining the spirit that made it a worldwide phenomenon.
After nine years in London’s West End, two TV specials and performances in more than 20 countries, the Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) is once again bringing its signature blend of satire, slapstick and literary mischief to stages across the UK.
The abridged classic is written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, with Long also directing this new production. Set and costume design is by Liz Cooke, lighting is designed by Alexandra Stafford and movement direction comes from Amy Lawrence. The cast of three will be announced in due course.
The origins of the Reduced Shakespeare Company stretch back to the 1980s, when the troupe performed 15-minute versions of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet as street theatre in the San Francisco Bay Area. Regulars at Renaissance Faires, they often shared performance spaces with belly dancers and sheep.
The Complete Works was first staged at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1987, with performances at 10.00am in a church basement. From there, the show travelled to Montreal, Tokyo, New York and London before embarking on several world tours. Its hugely successful West End run at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus lasted nine years.
The company also holds two Guinness World Records: the highest-altitude Shakespeare performance, achieved on 23 April 2014 with a staging at 37,000 feet aboard an EasyJet flight from London Gatwick to Verona, and the longest-running Shakespeare play in the West End, with 3,744 performances between 1996 and 2005.
Reflecting on the 2026 reboot, director Adam Long said:
“We’ve always said that The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is about what happens when the genius of Shakespeare collides with the mentality of the modern world. I was brought up in a world of Bugs Bunny, Marx Brothers and The B-52s. Our new young cast was brought up on TikTok, SnapChat and Labubu Dolls.
“So far, in these early stages of collaboration, we’ve adapted Titus Andronicus as a YouTube cooking tutorial that morphs into a scene out of Stranger Things, and the entire 270 minutes of Othello has been micro-compressed into a fifteen second ukulele solo.”
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is presented in special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).
