{"id":4006,"date":"2014-05-23T05:49:02","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T05:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/?p=4006"},"modified":"2014-05-23T18:26:50","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T18:26:50","slug":"complete-works-hulus-web-comedy-series-reviewed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/complete-works-hulus-web-comedy-series-reviewed\/","title":{"rendered":"Complete Works: Hulu&#8217;s Web Comedy Series Reviewed"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><em>Complete Works<\/em><\/h1>\n<h2>Hulu\u2019s Web Comedy Series about a Shakespeare Competition<\/h2>\n<h3>Reviewed by Jenny Lower<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">RECOMMENDED:<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4001\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4001\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Lili-Fuller-Joe-Sofranko.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-4001\" src=\"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Lili-Fuller-Joe-Sofranko-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"Lily Fuller and Joe Sofranko\" width=\"400\" height=\"237\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4001\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lili Fuller and Joe Sofranko in &#8220;Complete Works&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Complete Works<\/em>, a new web comedy series in five half-hour episodes, follows a young male competitor from Indiana through a high-stakes collegiate Shakespeare competition. The show is clever, funny, and packed with a young, good-looking cast. All five episodes of the show recently debuted on Hulu in time for the Bard\u2019s 450<sup>th<\/sup> birthday, and just a couple of weeks before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2014\/05\/12\/311111701\/why-arent-teens-reading-like-they-used-to\" target=\"_blank\">this report<\/a> found \u2014 <em>quelle surprise <\/em>\u2014 that teens today read less than they used to. For Millennials, it begs the question: to stream, or not to stream?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hulu.com\/embed.html?eid=i1y46-jjjh7kalqeslizag&amp;et=169&amp;st=0\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the medium is both the problem and the solution when it comes to making Shakespeare relevant. Could this show, which feels a bit like <em>Glee<\/em> but with fewer misfits and more cutthroat competition, introduce Shakespeare to the latest crop of web-savvy not-so-literati? Could a desire to get the in-jokes motivate media-hungry youngsters to put down their phones and learn to navigate iambic pentameter with the same adroitness as their Facebook privacy settings?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know, but I found it engaging and entertaining.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Produced by Joe Sofranko, Lili Fuller, and Adam North, and directed by Sofranko and North, the series stars Sofranko as Hal, a Midwesterner paying his way through state technical college. Hal\u2019s also a die-hard Shakespearephile ever since an infant encounter with the Riverside edition. On a lark, he enters the regional American Shakespeare Competition, until an accident bumps him from runner-up status to the finals in Italy. There, he falls in with his competitors, a hodgepodge of recognizable types that include the bitchy gay guy (Ben Sidell), a former child star (Chase Williamson), and a New Yorker with a resting bitch face (Fuller). For reasons not entirely clear at first, Hal gets singled out by the resident villain\/ veteran competitor (Kevin Quinn), who decides to coach Hal in order to settle an old score. The cold readings begin, and we\u2019re off.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4000\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4000\" style=\"width: 388px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Joe-Sofranko-Chase-Williamson-Lili-Fuller-the-back-of-Adam-North.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-4000\" src=\"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Joe-Sofranko-Chase-Williamson-Lili-Fuller-the-back-of-Adam-North-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Joe Sofranko and Chase William (on the platform), and the back of Adam North\" width=\"388\" height=\"255\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4000\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joe Sofranko and Chase Williamson (on the platform), and the back of Adam North<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>True to its name, the show offers a catholic embrace of Shakespeare\u2019s <em>oeuvre<\/em>. There are plenty of highlights from the AP reading list (<em>Macbeth<\/em> and <em>Othello<\/em> figure heavily), but they occur alongside references to lesser-known works such as <em>Coriolanus <\/em>and <em>Troilus and Cressida<\/em>. Hal\u2019s geek-outs allow for plenty of educational side-tours, and as the competition progresses, we delve into sonnets, soliloquies, and fight choreography. The show assumes a more-than-passing knowledge of Shakespeare, but that gives it some tooth for viewers who want to turn every episode into a spot-the-reference game. Entry-level viewers who miss some allusions will still have no trouble following the plot or the jokes, and may find their appreciation deepening along with their education.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s the serious stuff. Hal makes an appealing if slightly bland protagonist, and it\u2019s easy to root for him amid his many humiliations even when, mid-season, he rediscovers his inner Kenneth Branagh and turns into an insufferable git. We can see from a mile off that he\u2019ll fall for Fuller\u2019s Lady Macbeth act, but that doesn\u2019t make their mild flirtation any less enjoyable. Apart from some fantasy sequences that extend too long, the direction keeps the action moving and the comic timing spry. In one especially delicious scene, Vicki Lewis guest stars as an acting coach determined to mine (or implant) her students\u2019 traumatic memories for creative potential.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In targeting the show to Millennials \u2014 which, it\u2019s worth noting, may or may not be <em>Complete Works\u2019 <\/em>intention \u2014 the bigger question might be whether the show\u2019s conceit works against it. We\u2019re clearly occupying rarefied territory: Hal\u2019s passion for all things Shakespeare is cast as extreme even by his cohort\u2019s standards. Viewers, especially young ones, may be more likely to identify with the bored drone of his high school scene-partner than Hal\u2019s dorky earnestness. Early in the competition, Hal is even admonished to pick material his fellow students (and presumably the organizers) know. He loves not wisely, but too well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But those viewers probably won\u2019t stick with the show anyway, which ends on a partial cliffhanger that clearly sets up a second season. Only giddy fortune\u2019s furious fickle wheel will determine if <em>Complete Works<\/em> returns for a second season, but if it does, maybe the show will develop a cult following among Shakespeare\u2019s younger acolytes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And if they don\u2019t get a reference, perhaps they\u2019ll google it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hulu.com\/complete-works\/\" target=\"_blank\">Complete Works<\/a>, <em>Kingdom for a Horse Productions<\/em>, <em>directed by Joe Sofranko and Adam North. Available on <a href=\"https:\/\/hulu.com\" target=\"_blank\">Hulu.com <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Mayank Keshaviah\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/2014\/05\/23\/the-making-of-complete-works\/\" target=\"_blank\">profile<\/a> on the making of\u00a0<\/em>Complete Works<em> is on <\/em>Stage Raw<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Perhaps the medium is both the problem and the solution when it comes to making Shakespeare relevant. Could this show, which feels a bit like &#8220;Glee&#8221; but with fewer misfits and more cutthroat competition, introduce Shakespeare to the latest crop of web-savvy not-so-literati? Could a desire to get the in-jokes motivate media-hungry youngsters to put down their phones and learn to navigate iambic pentameter with the same adroitness as their Facebook privacy settings?  BY JENNY LOWER<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_custom_body_class":"","_custom_post_class":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-column","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4006"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4029,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4006\/revisions\/4029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/oldStageRaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}