IT’S a long title, but the moment you read “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised]” or its alternative, “The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)”, you know you’re in for some fun. 

For the 1980s play, by American theatre-makers Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, hits the spot with Bard lovers and haters around the world – and seems the perfect recipe for pre-Christmas fun.

“It’s not important that I’m a female,” says cast member Alex McPherson. “The show was written for three men, but our director, Ylaria Rogers, decided to cast a woman.”

That’s meant just a bit of rearrangement in allocating lines to take full advantage of having her in the cast.

McPherson was pretty well born to play this part. The daughter of Liz de Toth, a stalwart director and actor with Canberra Rep, the young Alex first performed at Rep in 2008 in “The Odd Couple” and has been performing on and off ever since. 

And no, she doesn’t get to play Juliet, telling me: “I play the nurse, and come to think of it, that may be the only woman I play.”

But the fact she’s a young mum has been used to full advantage in their version of “Macbeth”, performed with very bad Scottish accents, when Macbeth, not knowing that his nemesis Macduff was born by Caesarean section, believes the witches when they tell him that “none of woman born” shall harm him. 

“It’s better coming from me, who has had a child, so I get Macbeth’s line, it feels like ownership,” McPherson says. 

She’s been bringing her son to rehearsals now he’s of an age where he can see her perform, but as to whether he is likely to tread the boards, that’s another matter. 

“I have my fingers crossed, but he comments so much on what we should and shouldn’t be doing that I think he could be a budding director, not an actor,” she says.

So, what’s the “narrative” of the play?

“It’s such fun; we do all the things we have to do as actors – for instance, I die about nine different times. I have never been allowed to overact in my entire time on stage, so I’m enjoying myself,” she says.

The set-up is that three individuals, just ordinary people, have decided to perform all of Shakespeare in one go. They don’t know as much about the Bard as they think they do, so things go wrong.

“They’re just people who act out various parts in different ways.”

Occasionally a play, such as “Romeo and Juliet”, is done in full, over 10 minutes and with some Shakespearean language. 

“Othello” is done as a rap number, and there are football games, notably one covering the entire span of “The Wars of the Roses.” 

And there’s a TV cooking show. 

Shakespeare buffs will be unsurprised to learn that this is from “Titus Andronicus”, which contains one of the most notorious cannibalistic meals in all theatre history. I recall a production at Sydney University once when audience members in the front row fainted.

Although the play was written for American football, it has been changed in Australia to AFL, but not in this case, where the cast members, pretty un-sporty, had to Google the subject.

“No, we haven’t made it Aussie Rules… if we had to classify it, we’re doing ‘theatre kids’ footy’,” McPherson says, assuring me that it’ll be easy to understand.

There are many different ways of addressing the themes and concerns of Shakespeare, with some sections done in Shakespearean language and others not, but all for fun. 

“The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised],” Canberra Rep Theatre, Acton, November 17-December 2.