The Complete History of America, (Abridged), Performed by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, Hamilton City Hall.

Cramming 500 years of American history into 90 minutes, The Reduced Shakespeare Company's act is a whirlwind fusion of slapstick, political satire and chaos which takes no prisoners.

Nothing is sacred from the RSC's vantage point; everything is a moving target that invitingly comes before its telescopic sights -- unfortunately it doesn't always hit the bullseye.

Kicking off with a mutilated version of the Star Spangled Banner, Reed Martin, Matthew Croke and Austin Tichenor race through US history, starting off with her discovery and finishing with the end of the Cold War.

Admittedly it doesn't always work. Some of the jokes would have been tired, dated and predictable back in the early '90s when the show was first running.

For example: "It is not the length of your history that matters. It's what you do with it.'' or "The colonialists are revolting'' "I know did you ever eat with one of them?'' "He's been gone since 1430?'' one soldier says to another. "That's nearly 500 years.'' It was all a bit like watching a live version of Mel Brooks' "History of the World.'' Live perhaps, but going a bit mouldy at the edges.

The idea of showing Ronnie Reagan as a ventriloquist's dummy being manipulated by Nancy as she chats on the telephone to Mikhail Gorbachov was origninal and well presented, but again, the lines Ronnie was made to say were all too predictable.

How many times have we seen impersonations of a lobotomised former president going ga ga and struggling to keep his finger off the nuclear button? But the longer it went on, the better it got.

A mock slide show of the Civil War was both brilliant and clever, as was the reconstruction of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. ("Apart from that Mrs.

Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?'').

It was also refreshing to see some American self mockery combined with an enthusiasm to aim at easy but politically incorrect targets, including women and the old.

Defenceless children too were not spared their comedic barbs; a pantomime bike rider crashing into a green grocers showers the stage with fruit. When the bike then crashes into a nursery school, the cast are hit with babies.

A reconstruction of the trenches of World War One brought the house down with some wonderful lines that I won't spoil by repeating here, while depicting much of the post-war period through a Dick Tracey radio drama also had it's moments.

But I couldn't help but feel that large sections of the show, particularly at the beginning, could be livened up and improved. It felt as though the cast was just going through the paces of a tired script -- the performances were enthusiastic enough, but sometimes the jokes fell flat.

Perhaps the best part was a section in which audience members were invited to ask the trio questions which revealed just how quick-witted the cast could be, along with a freshness and spontaneity not always in the script.

Not a wasted evening, but then again I didn't pay for the tickets. The majority of the full house, however, seemed to enjoy it immensely.

One final thing -- if you end up sitting in the first couple of rows take an umbrella.

Gareth Finighan HYSTERICAL HISTORY -- The famed Reduced Shakespeare Company have turned a loony spotlight on a (very quick) history of America for their Bermuda Festival programme.