It might have acquired a new set of brackets - not only is it (Abridged) but also (Revised) - yet apart from the odd topical new line, the Reduced Shakespeare Company's hit is just as it was during its previous lengthy West End run.
So if, like me, you are tickled by the idea of Troilus and Cressida being explained in seconds flat with the aid of an inflatable dinosaur, this remains a hoot.
Purists scoffed before at this Edinburgh Fringe-generated hit and will doubtless scoff again. Let them. I would heartily contest that anyone who fails to smile at seeing all Shakespeare's comedies reduced to the lightning-fast skit Four Weddings and a Transvestite is taking herself too seriously.
An exuberant trio of American actors in doublets, hose and Converse boots leads us through "all 37 plays in 97 minutes", although they should surely have crowed over the fact that it took the Royal Shakespeare Company a snail-like year to get through these same Complete Works recently.
Once it has been established that "Shakespeare invaded Poland on September first 1939", the show careers off at a cracking pace, racing through the "boring" stuff and lingering longest on Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.
The latter turns into a full-blown pantomime experience, with the audience becoming the Freudian components of Ophelia's troubled mind and being encouraged to shout out as such. Do just remember that "Cut the crap, Hamlet, my biological clock is ticking and I want babies now" isn't a line particularly welcome in Stratford.
Directors Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, two of the original writers, keep the bouncing skulls and flying wigs under some sort of control, and achieve a neat blend of nerdiness and slacker charm (special credit to John Schwab) in their actors. Treat yourself.
Until 23 September. Information: 0870 060 1742, www.thecompleteworks london.com.
The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
Arts Theatre
Great Newport Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 7JB
