Theatre / ShakeSPLOSION!!!

His middle name was Edgerton? No, but it sounds cool.

ShakeSPLOSION!!! is a play written by Andrew Geha and published by YouthPLAYS.

The play is a sprint through every play written by the Bard, all condensed into 80 minutes. From the Sword Fights to the word fights, this one has it all.

The show premiered in the spring of 2015, and has since then been a popular play for high schools, middle schools, and youth academies with its Ensemble Cast (138 named characters to be exact). The recommended amount of actors ranges from 14 to 100.

It should be noted that the original script includes a character named "Rubenacker", named after the man who originally played the role. The name and gender of the character is intended to be personalized for every performance depending on the adult who plays it, but for the sake of continuity, he'll be called Rubenacker.

---

ShakeSPLOSION!!! contains examples of:

• Adaptation Amalgamation: All 38 of Shakespeare's plays are mashed together into one show.
• All There in the Script: Judith and Susanna, the narrators and main characters of the show, are both the names of Shakespeare’s daughters.
• Arc Words: Throughout Act II (Macbeth), "Didn't see that coming."
• Armor-Piercing Question: As Cressida is ushered off the stage, “If you leave us alive, is it even a tragedy?”
• Big "SHUT UP!": "Shut up, Falstaff." "Sorry, Hal."
• Butt-Monkey: Rubenacker, an actor who's only brought on stage to be killed in various Shakespearean ways.
• Crossover: Act V, the comedies, is one big crossover where characters from different plays interact with each other.
• Easily Forgiven: Exaggerated and parodied when showcasing The Winter's Tale
  Leontes: My wife, Hermione, and daughter, Perdita—I thought you died sixteen years ago when I imprisoned and abandoned you!!
  Hermione & Perdita: We forgive you!
• "Everybody Dies" Ending: Enforced and exaggerated when, at the end of Act III, the entire cast of Hamlet drops dead, including the people spectating the duel. Except for Horatio, obviously.
• Foregone Conclusion: Through Pop Culture Osmosis and the fact certain plays are labeled "tragedies" for a reason, it's safe to assume the audience already knows how certain plays end. This is still Played for Laughs and leads to comedic moments like this:
  Rubenacker: It says here I'm supposed to be playing both Coriolanus AND Julius Caesar?

  (MURDERERS run out from all sides of the set and stab Rubenacker, who dies)
• Framing Device: The play uses a Show Within a Show framing device. Judith and Susanna put on a show showcasing every one of Shakespeare’s plays in a single evening.
• It's All About Me:
  Henry IV: Henry the Fourth--Part One. It's supposed to be about me.
  Hal: Sorry, Dad. It's all about me!
• Look Behind You:
  Macbeth: (Pointing offstage:) Hey everyone!! What light through yonder window breaks??

  (Everyone looks away. Macbeth stabs Banquo.)
• No Fourth Wall: Oh, was there never. Judith and Susanna directly speak to both the audience and the Shakespearean characters. They also occasionally drop lines like “Oh. So [Love’s Labors Lost] is basically our school.”
  • Invoked when someone runs on stage to take a picture of Hamlet as he holds Yorick’s skull in that famous scene.
• No Indoor Voice: The characters of A Midsummer Night's Dream are constantly screaming.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Conversed. When pirates come on stage during Hamlet, Judith exclaims "There's no pirate battle in Hamlet!" Susanna replies, "Actually there is. It happens offstage, but Hamlet writes a letter about a pirate battle in Act Four, Scene Five."
• One-Liner Echo: Zig-zagged with Ross echoing Marcellus' lines since, through Pop Culture Osmosis, the audience knows these lines come from Hamlet, despite Hamlet appearing after Macbeth in the play.
  Guards: (Entering) The King is dead???
  Ross: (Entering:) Long live the king!!
  Others: What?
  • And:
  Ross: There's something rotten in the state of Denmark.
  Macduff: We're in Scotland.
  Ross: We're in Scotland???
• Our Acts Are Different: There are five acts, like all Shakespearean plays. The acts are divided as follows:
  • Act I: The Histories.
  • Act II: Macbeth
  • Act III: Hamlet
  • Act IV: The Lovers' Tragedies.
  • Act V: The Comedies.
• Revised Ending: Enforced by Kate from The Taming of the Shrew.
  Petruchio: Behave, behave, behave, be—
  Kate: Okay!!
  Petruchio: Really? (Turning towards the audience:) The e—

  (Kate punches Petruchio, knocking him out cold.)
  Kate: The end.
  Judith: That's not actually how it ends.
  Kate: It's how it should end.
• Show, Don't Tell: When Susanna mentions how the pirate battle in Hamlet happens offstage, the Sea Captain replies "Who writes about a pirate battle? This is theater. Show, don't tell."
• Sound-Only Death: Rubenacker, playing the role of Arcite in The Two Noble Kinsmen, breaks character to tell the actors they can't have a live horse backstage. He runs off stage towards the horse. Cue the sound of disastrous, horsey noises.
• Talk Like a Pirate: The Sea Captain and their pirates who appear in Hamlet shout stereotypical pirate clichés.
• Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Discussed in great detail throughout the final act, since Susanna points out how unbelievable the comedies are.