By Liz Hobday in Adelaide

Shakespearean lovers played by a can of peach vodka and a Bundy and Coke?

In Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare, by UK company Forced Entertainment, Much Ado About Nothing has been retold using a table top for a stage and everyday household items for players.

The company is tackling 36 plays in eight days at the Space Theatre, as part of the Adelaide Festival.

To get a handle on the size of this task, the opening program Saturday featured Coriolanus, King John, Much Ado About Nothing, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Richard II and The Taming of the Shrew.

Usually each of these plays would run about two and a half hours each, if not longer – Table Top Shakespeare crams them all into an afternoon and an evening.

In Much Ado About Nothing, a lone performer sits at a folding table and introduces each of the characters: one is a bottle of antiseptic, another a salt tower. Two bumbling policeman are represented by balls of string.

The can of peach vodka is Beatrice, and her eventual lover Benedick the can of Bundy and Coke.

Some of the humour in this retelling lies in the choice of these items – it’s easy to imagine Beatrice’s biting wit might be fuelled by alcopops, while the villain Don John is played by an unlabelled black bottle that begins to seem very ominous as the action unfolds.

The retelling also becomes a reflection on the art of storytelling, as the symmetry of Shakespearean plots and characters is revealed through the placing of items on the table.

Much Ado About Nothing’s very convoluted plot is condensed into 45 minutes using the simplest everyday language, with not a Shakespearean flourish anywhere.

In one section, mouthfuls of script boil down to Benedick telling his friend: “I told you so, you shouldn’t fall in love, you’re an idiot.”

On metal shelves to either side are the items required for all the plays, with sponges, insect repellent, batteries and beer bottles lined up ready to go.

Hamlet, apparently, is played by a bottle of vinegar.

Table Top Shakespeare has been performed around the world and its Adelaide run continues to March 16.

Later in March, selected plays will be performed in Hobart as part of Ten Days on the Island.

AAP travelled with the assistance of the Adelaide Festival.