THURSDAY, JULY 9–SUNDAY, AUGUST 9
Admit it: you used Cliff Notes to carry you through Henry V. (And King Lear and Twelfth Night.) But those yellow-and-black booklets weren’t much fun, were they? When you think about it, Shakespeare’s body of work is one big jumble of mistaken identities, protracted deaths, lusty lads, neurotic royals, and power-mongering bureaucrats. Fun stuff! Those are the elements that come into stark comic relief in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), a fast-paced show that distills the classics to their essence, taking a few irreverent twists and turns along the way. The Orfeo Group, one of Boston’s newest, boldest theater companies, tears through these delicious literary nuggets when it stages the show at the amphitheater at Christian Herter Park (1175A Soldiers Field Road, Brighton). Bring a picnic and enjoy dinner on the banks of the Charles while you watch the classics run amok. Shows are at 6:45 p.m. every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. For tickets ($15, free on Thursdays), visit www.orfeogroup.org or call 617.747.4460
