One critic described it as a “Whoopee Cushion with Legs.” &bsp;

That in a nutshell is the Tryon Little Theater’s second show of the season, “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged),” opening tonight at 8 p.m. at TLT’s Workshop, 516 South Trade Street.

Six actors squeeze all 37 of the Bard’s plays into about an hour and 45 minutes of mayhem, which Shakespeare himself would have heartily approved of, being a busy playwright who wrote for the masses and relished silliness as well as the serious. &bsp;

And you may think you’ve seen “Othello,” “King Lear,” “Titus Andronicus,” “Hamlet,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Julius Caesar,” “Anthony and Cleopatra,” “Richard III,” and all those comedies you invariably get mixed up because they’re really all variations on the same mistaken-identity plot.

“Complete Works” runs tonight through Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., and next weekend, November 19-21 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 22 at 3 p.m.

Telephone reservations are accepted at 828-859-2466. The box office is open Monday-Saturday 10-1 at the Workshop; telephone reservations left outside those hours will have the call returned to confirm your reservation or alert you to a sell-out and find a date you can attend.