The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)

A great production of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" is almost as worthy of praise as that of a Shakespeare play. The Reduced Shakespeare Company, which first premiered the popular show in 1987, is back with a slightly revised version. Playing to a packed house of young kids, this irreverent, slapstick parody of the Bard has never felt so damn funny.

The fast-paced show observes the ambitious and ridiculous efforts of three guys to perform all 37 Shakespeare plays in 100 minutes. After offering a mangled biography of Shakespeare that confuses him with Adolph Hitler, the troupe condenses the comedies into a single plot about shipwrecked twins, the histories as a football game, "Othello" as a rap and "Titus Andronicus" as a cooking show.

Act 2 is devoted to tackling "Hamlet." The ghost of Hamlet's father is portrayed as a sock puppet, and the audience is invited to portray Ophelia's subconscious. When it is all over, the troupe offers encores that further reduce "Hamlet" to one minute and finally ten seconds.

Performing this difficult show demands extreme precision. Matt Rippy, the youngest of the trio, plays female roles such as Juliet and Ophelia with childlike energy. He also pretends to vomit onto the audience. Austin Techenor is wonderfully hammy as Hamlet, while Reed Martin offers physical contortions and fire eating.

Since the troupe is currently performing for a young audience, the physical humor is being played up even more than usual. While the kids are probably unfamiliar with the original plays, they are incredibly responsive to the silliness.

At the New Victory Theater.
209 W. 42nd St., 646-223-3010, newvictory.org. Through Sun.