Over the course of eight days, UK-based theatre company Forced Entertainment will perform all 36 of Shakespeare’s plays at Adelaide Festival Centre. Sort of. Table Top Shakespeare is exactly as it sounds: instead of big casts, sweeping sets and heaps of mistaken identities and angst-ridden soliloquies, each play is reduced to its essential story, told by one actor, with only a perfectly ordinary table and selection of perfectly ordinary household props to tell the story.

The choice of props for each character is fascinating and adds a seasoning of humour to proceedings. For example, in Much Ado About Nothing, daft Dogberry and Verges are balls of string, and the Gentlemen Of The Watch are, of course, toilet roll tubes, while sweetly simple Hero is represented by a bottle of baby oil. The masked ball which drives much of the early action is easy: turn things round or flip them upside down to show the characters are wearing masks. The choreography of objects is pleasing and taps into our human habit of illustrating complex stories with the bits and pieces to hand. But Shakespeare’s stories weren’t always his strongest point (sure dudes, you definitely should get married in a week but watch out for that dastardly servant climbing up to your window to impeach your virtue). It’s his language that sweeps us up and allows us to believe; without it, these works can all too easily become walking shadows that signify nothing.

Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare, Adelaide Festival Centre, until Sunday 16 March, times vary. Much Ado About Nothing reviewed.