The HHS Drama club is decidedly unafraid to have an absolute blast onstage, and their knee­slapping performance of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)” serves as testimony. In their two performances, May 6 and 7, the cast of the play delivered a high ­energy, accessible window into Shakespeare’s works­- all 37 of them.

The show itself, written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield, is inherently funny. In the play, a troupe of Shakespearean performers attempt to perform every play every written by the man, in a variety of unique and engaging ways. For example, Titus Andronicus is performed in the style of a cooking show, and Hamlet requires some audience participation (more on that later). Couple the zany script with a stellar cast, and one gets a markedly memorable night.

Narrators Evan Ayer, Greta Eustace, Josh Crosby, Kenzie Hunt, Connor McGeoghan, and Ava Lavallee always seemed to elevate the show with a variety of antics to liven the mood. They interacted directly with the audience and displayed their distinct stage personalities in such a way that you felt like you knew them as real people, not performers.

Tasked with the responsibility of being onstage for the entire show, the narrators performed beautifully, never failing to deliver on jokes and gags. Two narrators, Seniors Josh Crosby and Evan Ayer, even sacrificed their intermission and instead ran around the school as part of a running joke introduced during Act I.

While the entire cast rallied to create a hoot of a show, some memorable moments included Junior Matt Rice as Juliet, a hip­hop version of Othello (featuring Liam Nahil, Meg Prescott, Chris Ryan, Andersson Perry, Casey Hussey, and Rebecca Smith), and a retelling of Macbeth thick with intentionally poor Scottish accents from Gabrielle Martin and Steph Pett.

The entire cast of Hamlet also earns a nod, for performing the piece three times, each increasingly faster (and once more in reverse!). Sophomore Jeremy Canney, who played Ophelia in Hamlet and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, also deserves recognition, because of the five times during the show that he splashed a huge goblet of water in his face.

An iconic moment during the show, however, happened during the recounting of Hamlet. In an effort to prove that anyone could play Ophelia, the narrators chose an audience member to come onstage and play the role. And, naturally, that audience member was Hingham High Principal Dr. Girouard­McCann.

The principal played the role (which consisted of one simple task: screaming) with grace, but, once the entire audience was prompted to act as Ophelia’s inner monologue, Dr. Girouard­McCann let out a scream to end all screams. With her brief moment of fame over, the principal returned to her seat among the laughing audience.

In the lobby afterwards, the mood was light and the smiles were many. Many audience members took away new knowledge of Shakespeare. Freshman Patrick Whamond explained, “Reading Shakespeare in Ms. Fennelly’s English class, it was difficult to understand at first, but seeing that really put everything together in a much funnier way.” He added, “I personally really enjoyed the show.”

Cast member Casey Hussey described how, going into their opening performance, the cast wasn’t sure what to expect. She recounted, “At tech rehearsals, it was hard to do some of the scenes without an audience because we weren’t sure how they would react.” In the end, the freshman was satisfied with the way the audience reacted and the performance in general. She stated, “We all put so much hard work into the show and it was such a great outcome and a really awesome reward to have everyone laughing and smiling so much in the audience.”

It was the last “mainstage” show for the drama club this year, and a sizable amount of seniors are moving on to college next year. It’s bittersweet, for sure, but at least they’re going out laughing.